Whatever problems the touch-screens had, 14 out of 15 counties using touch-screen equipment at least had an outcome in line with party registration. Counties with more Republicans went Republican; counties with more Democrats went Democratic.

But of the 52 counties using op-scan ballots, only 21 voted in the direction predicted by their voter registration—fewer than half. The other 31 counties went in opposition to their voter registration, and all but one went for Bush. The sole exception was Monroe County, with an exceptionally close outcome.

Even where the op-scan vote ran with party registration, the margin was different, suggesting again that Kerry, at the last minute, lost Democrats, independents, and unaffiliated voters in an election where independents and new voters were trending toward Kerry.

A manual recount of two op-scan counties and part of another by two Miami Herald reporters netted Kerry 11 additional votes in one small county, and 24 in another.

On another front, the biggest touch-screen counties in Florida all reported problems with long lines. The most startling and dramatic testimony on Florida's election problems came from Clinton Curtis, formerly a software programmer at the Florida company Yang Enterprises, Inc (YEI). Curtis has brought his voting software experience to light in sworn testimony and in an affidavit.

In the fall of 2000 Curtis witnessed Representative Tom Feeney (R-FL), at that time YEI's company counsel and lobbyist, visit the company with an unusual request: "Mr. Feeney said that he wanted to know if YEI could develop a prototype of a voting program that could alter the vote tabulation in an election and be undetectable."

In a conversation involving several company staffers at which Curtis was present, Feeney "was very specific in the design and specifications required for this program." Curtis was directed to create the fraudulent voter-software prototype, and he did so.

Contacted repeatedly with questions, Feeney's office has declined to comment on the Curtis affidavit.

The affidavit details a chilling sequence in which the project was developed, was handed to one of the company managers, and was then delivered elsewhere after an open statement that it was intended to control the vote in South Florida by manipulating margins and percentages in some precincts.

Curtis subsequently left YEI, which threw a farewell party for him. His farewell card is posted at www.bradblog.com, a website that has done a magnificent job of bringing this story to light.

PROBLEMS ELSEWHERE—A Democratic website has posted disparities between the margin of votes received by Kerry in New Mexico, and by other Democratic candidates, for local positions, including judgeships. Apparently every Democrat running in a surprising number of counties outperformed the top of the ticket, although usually a presidential candidate gets more votes than those in lesser races.

Ohio presented the appearance of massive voter suppression and vote fraud. Along with widely reported irregularities, including excessively long lines at, and confusion about, the location of voting places, an article by Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, "Stealing Votes in Columbus," documents how voting machines were taken away from high-population precincts, which were likely to go for Kerry, and sent to more affluent suburbs with their smaller populations, instead. Dr. Phillips has tabulated the difference voting machines made in the voting.

The precincts with the longest lines, of course, turned away more voters. Phillips reports that the voting machines were disbursed by a former executive director of the Franklin County Republican Party, Matt Damschroder, who met with George W. Bush and with Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, on Election Day.

Phillips concludes that "Damschroder did not act alone" in Ohio. With 74 wards and 472 precincts in Columbus, one person could not have delivered all the voting machines, and probably could not have planned all the deliveries. "Anyone who associated with Mr. Damschroder on or shortly before Election Day should be investigated for possible complicity."

Interestingly, the former president of the voting-machine company Diebold and the vice-president of ES&S, two of the largest companies in the field, who are brothers, are also major Republican donors and supporters. Together, Diebold and ES&S count 80 percent of all votes in the U.S.

There is hope for concerned citizens, however. Along with investigations into the election by the F.B.I., the Department of Justice and Congress, citizen movements to restore the integrity of the voting process are springing up around the country. One of the strongest, called US Count Votes, is forming "a database containing precinct-level election results for the entire United States," according to its founders. You can go to www.electionarchive.org for more information.