"Hacking Democracy"

Renton foe of computerized voting is featured in HBO documentary

On Thursday at 9 p.m., HBO will air "Hacking Democracy," a 90-minute documentary that chronicles Harris' quest to expose security holes in computerized voting systems, which she says could be exploited by computer hackers and, worse, never discovered because of the lack of a paper trail. Her nonprofit, Black Box Voting, monitors election integrity.

"She's like the Erin Brockovich of the voting-machine world," said Sarah Teale, an executive producer whose previous films include "Dealing Dogs" and "Bellevue: Inside Out" (about the New York City psychiatric hospital, not the city on the Eastside).

Two British filmmakers tail Harris, 55, as she digs through records in elections-office trash and confronts officials with a video camera Michael Moore-style. The film insinuates — but does not prove — voter fraud in several counties around the country.

Not that I wasn't aware of the problems with electronic voting and with Diebold systems in particular, but I'll be interested to see what the documentary covers. Definitely setting up the DVR to record this one.