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Michael Moore attacks e-voting
Andrew Donoghue
ZDNet UK
November 10, 2003, 16:10 GMT

Controversial US documentary maker and author Michael Moore has lambasted electronic voting machines being used in some US states, claiming the technology is inherently open to misuse.

Speaking at an event to publicise his latest book, Dude: Where's my country?, in London's Palladium theatre on Sunday, Moore attacked one of the main US voting-machine manufacturers, Diebold, for its links to the Bush administration. It has been revealed that the company's chief executive Walden O'Dell is a major fundraiser for the Republican Party

O'Dell came in for criticism recently when he claimed in a letter to be "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year".

Moore ridiculed the variety of voting technologies used in the US, claiming the pencil-and-paper systems used in countries such as the UK and Canada were the still the best method of avoiding vote-rigging.

"In Canada they mark an X in a box, and then people sit and count the votes by hand with representatives of the various parties watching everything. There are hardly any roads north of Toronto but the Canadians manage to get all their votes in four hours after the ballots close," he said.

Jokingly, he asked for someone in the UK audience to explain to him in detail how exactly to put a cross in a box so that he could report the intricacies of the system to US authorities.

Moore also took mobile giant Orange to task, after finding the stage for the book-reading event festooned with banners advertising the UK company. The film maker, who is vocally anti-big business, seemed unaware the mobile operator was sponsoring the event until he came on stage and noticed the banners.

Moore twisted one of the 20 ft canvas signs around so that the Orange logo was no longer visible, amid cheers from the packed auditorium. He then denied any knowledge of a sponsorship deals with the company.

"Who the hell are Orange are they some kind of phone company? " he said. "No one sponsors me."

The author, who has seen his personal fortune rocket amid huge sales of his books worldwide, later apologised to the audience for the prominent onstage advertising.

Later in the hour-long event, Moore revealed he is currently filming another documentary following on from the Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine" called "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is due for release next summer.