Ghost in the Machine - Article about Bruce Funk and hackable machines

[helderheid]

Ghost in the Machine
Bruce Funk is out of a government job but still raising a ruckus over hackable voting machines.

Shown the door of the Emery County Clerk’s office six months ago, Bruce Funk has become a folk hero of sorts. He’s the easygoing pin-up for those who believe new touch-screen voting machines are vote-stealing democracy destroyers.

One such group will even sell you a T-shirt. “I Know Bruce Funk,” the shirt reads, “A voice for America against ‘hackable’ voting equipment.”

This March, Funk became the nation’s second county election official to test the new wave of vote-by-computer machines by bringing in computer technicians to try to hack one. A few weeks later, Funk was out on his ear. Depending on whom you believe, he either resigned in frustration or was maneuvered out of the office to which he was so often re-elected he’s lost count of how many terms he served.

If Funk wanted his county clerk job of 23 years back, he might have had a court case. After all, he was elected by the people of Emery County and couldn’t be fired by county commissioners, or—as Funk suspects—by the lieutenant governor operating in concert with a voting-machine maker.

But he isn’t suing. It’s not his style. The grandfather who occasionally frees mountain lions caught in bobcat traps on his farmland south of Price is mild-mannered. Anyway, he was near retirement age when he was shown the door.

But that doesn’t mean Funk’s going away quietly. Raising alarm bells over voting machines scheduled to be used throughout Utah in November is his new job. “This takes precedence over anything after my family,” Funk said.

MUCH more >>>>

http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2006/cityweek_1_2006-09-28.cfm

[helderheid]

1. Bruce Funk is a REPUBLICAN, by the way.

[Mnemosyne]

2. k and r n/t

[helderheid]

3. Thanks!

[Mnemosyne]

8. kick

:hi:

[helderheid]

4. “This takes precedence over anything after my family,”

[helderheid]

5. .

[helderheid]

6. nite

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. k&r

[helderheid]

9. mornin'