Many people suspect some kind of funny business in the 2004 Presidential election, but the media has failed to inform us of what really happened, and the true story has not been told.

Because Bush "won," many people are talking about what Kerry did wrong, and some are even suggesting that the Democratic Party needs to move towards the center. Grassroots organizations are scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to be more effective next time.

But the exit polls showed Kerry winning the popular vote by 3% and the electoral college by 316-222, a landslide by many standards. If they are correct, we should all be talking about the first time an incumbent war-time President was ever defeated. The grassroots organizations should be celebrating the largest new voter registration drive in the history of our country.

How could this happen? Wouldn't it take a huge conspiracy involving thousands of people to steal a presidential election? Not really, if you own the companies that make the voting machines and the computers that tally the votes. In today's high tech world, it's actually easier than ever.

While many just say the exit polls were wrong and give no solid reasoning why, expert statisticians who have been closely examining the exit polls disagree. A recent report published by USCountVotes (available on this CD) is signed by a dozen PhD experts, and states the odds are over 16 million to one that the exit polls could deviate from the "official" results such a high margin. The report concludes, "The possibility that the overall vote count was substantially corrupted must be taken seriously."

The crux of the problem is that our election systems have been privatized. The vast majority (over 80%) of the votes were actually counted in secret, by private companies, most of which are owned and run by people who support and contribute to the Republican Party. These companies say their computer source code is a trade secret and they do not allow the public, or even computer experts to evaluate their integrity. In other words, they could have software on the computers designed to change the vote totals and no one would know it. At one point some of the source code was leaked to a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University. He was astounded at how poorly it was written and how unprotected and vulnerable to hacking it was. Dr. Avi Ruben's full report on the leaked software code is on this CD.

The companies also have refused to make voting machines that print a paper trail or record of the vote. When asked why they don't do this, they say it can't be done, even though the same companies manufacture ATM machines, which produce printed receipts. Without a voter verified paper record, it's impossible to know if the votes were cast correctly, or conduct a recount. If the company, or even a single person in the company, wanted to program the machines to change the votes, there is no way anyone would know because everything is kept secret.

In a democracy, there are supposed to be transparent elections, but something has gone awry. Our vote counting has been sold off to private companies controlled by Republicans. How could this have happened?

On one level, this is beyond partisanship. No one should want private companies counting our votes on secret software, regardless of which side they support. But it's also true that virtually all the voting machine companies are Republican owned. In addition, the Republican legislators have repeatedly blocked legislation that would require electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail. Is there any valid reason to block such legislation, unless they wanted to eliminate any possibility that these votes could be recounted if election results were questionable?

In 2002, a number of election reform designed to secure the vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems were introduced in Congress. None of these bills have been even been allowed a hearing, for one simple reason. Republican leadership has done everything in their power to keep them out of committee and away from a general vote. WHY?

Exit polls are a red flag, but alone they would not prove anything. To prove a stolen election - as with any crime - means, motive, opportunity, and evidence is required. This CD will show you all.

You may have heard people say, "Get over it." Here's why we should not, and cannot get over it. The computerized election systems discussed here are not just for the 2004 election. More are being put in place every day, and for all the wrong reasons. They're here to stay if we don't do something about it now. Our democracy is at stake.

You may have heard that some conspiracy nuts on the Internet think the election was stolen. This CD will show you that there are many well respected experts, scientists, statisticians, PhD's, and voting rights organizations speaking in one voice: "Our election system is severely broken and We The People need to do something about it."

A recent survey showed that many people still question the results of the 2004 election. You may have had suspicions about the election, but since the media has blocked out this story, you haven't been presented with the facts. This CD will give you some of the facts to validate your suspicions, and hopefully the motivation to learn more and get involved.

Grab some popcorn and a comfortable chair. And please, DON'T get over it.