A Few Great Political Documentaries
My wife and I love good documentaries, and 'tis the election season. We've watched a few great movies that I wanted to pass along just in case you're in the mood for a good documentary one of these days.
Free for All
This movie is an independent film that was released this year, I believe. The best part is that there's a few great options for watching. If you're cheap, you can watch the entire thing on the website for free. If you have a way to put an unprotected mp4 onto your TV, you can download it for $4.95. If you want a DVD, you can get one for $19.95.
This movie is about what happened in 2000 and 2004 with voter suppressions and other election irregularities. I found the tone and narration to be funny and entertaining, while still being very serious about the problem.
Hacking Democracy
This movie is an HBO film about the insecurity behind some of the most popular voting machines in America, the dishonesty of that company, and the election officials who struck deals with that company. Of course, you all know them as Diebold, but they have since renamed themselves to Premiere Election Systems. Just recently, Diebold admitted that there were programming flaws in the machines in Ohio in 2004. Even worse, they claim it can't be fixed before the November 4 elections this year.
Additionally, the state of Ohio is suing Diebold over the flaws in their systems.
Even though action is being taken, this movie is a great documentary covering how a group of people worked hard to uncover the truth behind the Florida and Ohio elections.
If you want to watch it in browser, Google Video currently has it, although I don't know if that will continue to work.
Uncounted
This movie I haven't watched yet, as I just found it while searching for a few links for this post. However, the trailer looks good. If you've seen it, feel free to weigh in on it below in the comments.
Video the Vote
Even if you're not interested in watching a documentary, the best thing I learned from Free for All is about the organization Video the Vote. The idea is to organize citizens into one large video camera to monitor nearly every polling place for irregularities -- voters being turned away for "improper documentation" or "not being registered" despite having a registration card. It's definitely a program to check out.
Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008, in politics
