I have an "open source" Applescript project for this list.
I'm a volunteer working with Bill Rouverol, former professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley (home of Berkeley Unix!) and the designer of the first Votamatic Voting Machine, which is now in the Smithsonian. Mr. Rouverol has studied the 2004 United State Presidential Election. He has come to the conclusion that there was massive rigging by the private companies that made the electronic voting machines (primarily Diebold, E.S.&S and Sequoia).
How was this rigging possible? One scenario Mr. Rouverol imagines is that the voting programs written by these companies could have had a subroutine (or handler) which was activated at a certain time on Election Day. If it sensed that, say, political party A was behind, the subroutine would then switch votes from party B to party A in a subtle manner. After it finished switching votes, the subroutine would erase itself at exactly the moment the voting stations closed.
I've simplified somewhat, but this is the essence of one scenario imagined by Mr. Rouverol. (I've tried to make it apolitical.)
I wish to propose an "open source" AppleScript project. I propose that interested scripters work together to build a very simple "proof of concept." In other words, we build the simplest possible voting machine V using just AppleScript. To keep things simple, the voters should be given, in a given segment of time, just two choices: party A or party B. The voting machine V should have the capability of erasing, at a predetermined time t, a subroutine S contained within V. The subroutine S should be capable of switching votes from party B to party A if it senses that party A is falling behind party B.
I confess that my AppleScripting skills are not up to this task. On the other hand, as a longtime reader of this list, I sense that there are many here who would have the ability, if not the interest, to do this fairly rapidly.
Thanks for your attention. Any comments at all are appreciated.
Roy Whelden
P.S. Mr. Rouverol is writing a paper on "The New Science of Election Rigging." Anyone contributing to this proof-of-concept open source project will surely get a mention in the published paper.