81Trust
Highly Accurate
🔍 Web Verified
Cory DoctorowonMastodon1d ago
After Bush v Gore, I got involved in a bunch of ugly tech policy fights over voting machines. The hanging chad debacle in Florida prompted Congress to appropriate funds for states to purchase new touchscreen voting machines based on a robust, open standard. Problem was, those machines didn't exist.
-
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/18/dominion-sucks-actually/#just-peachy
1/
Trust Metrics
85
80
75
80
Claim Accuracy85%
Source Quality80%
Framing & Tone75%
Context80%
Analysis Summary
After the 2000 Florida recount, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (2002) to fund state voting machine purchases, but states ended up buying proprietary touchscreen systems from vendors like Diebold and ES&S rather than machines built on open, transparent standards. Doctorow's core claim — that Congress intended robust open standards but states got locked into closed-source machines instead — reflects the actual outcome of voting infrastructure policy over the past two decades, which created widespread security and transparency concerns that persist today.
Claims Analysis (3)
“After Bush v Gore, Congress appropriated funds for states to purchase new touchscreen voting machines based on a robust, open standard”
Congress did appropriate funds post-2000 for voting machine upgrades via Help America Vote Act (2002), though 'robust open standard' is debatable — machines varied widely in security.
“The hanging chad debacle in Florida prompted Congress to appropriate funds for voting machines”
The 2000 Florida recount (hanging chads) directly motivated HAVA 2002, which funded state voting machine purchases. This is well-documented legislative history.
“Those machines (robust, open standard voting machines) didn't exist”
States purchased proprietary touchscreen machines (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia) that lacked transparency and security features. No truly open-standard voting system was widely available or adopted.
Was this analysis helpful?
Try ClearFeed free →