Stephen Spoonamore

Stephen Spoonamore is a recognized expert in the field of electronic data security and digital network architecture who, in September 2008, agreed to serve as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in the Ohio vote-rigging lawsuit, King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association et al v. J. Kenneth Blackwell et al , before the United States District Court in Columbus, Ohio. Spoonamore served as the Chief Executive Officer and/or Chief Technology Officer of companies engaged in the design and development of digital systems, including CPR Group Inc., Cybrinth LLC, DuosTech Inc., SWN Communications, FreePlay Inc. and GSP Inc.

Spoonamore has designed or consulted on secure elements of digital systems for MasterCard, American Express, Chubb Insurance, Bloomberg, Boeing, NBC-GE, NewsCorp, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Navy, The U.S. Department of State and other government agencies.

Voting security issues
Because of his interest in data security and in democracy, Spoonamore has followed closely security issues involved with electronic voting in United States. His understanding of the vulnerabilities of American elections to fraudulent manipulation is based upon conversations with professionals in election administration working within state governmental structures, as well as information technology specialists working in private industry on a contract basis for state governments. His concern and knowledge about these issues led him to agree to serve as an expert resource and witness for plaintiffs' counsel and the King Lincoln case in federal court in Ohio.

In a September 2008 affidavit filed in federal court in the above-mentioned case, Spoonamore described a type of computer attack called a "Man in the Middle" or MIM attack that could have easily been executed to manipulate the state of Ohio election returns in 2004. He described the vulnerabilities of Diebold touchscreen voting machines:

In my opinion, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to make a secure touch screen voting system. None. Secure systems are predicated on establishing securely the identity of every user of the system. Voting is predicated on being anonymous. It is impossible to have a system that does both.

On Mike Connell's involvement in vote rigging
Mike Connell was a key Republican information technology contractor who set up the computers for counting the votes in Ohio in the 2004 election. He was killed December 19, 2008 in a single-engine plane crash He had recently been subpoenaed to testify in the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell case.

In his court affidavit, Spoonamore stated,

While he has not admitted to wrongdoing, and in my opinion he is not involved in voting theft, Mike [Connell] clearly agrees that the electronic voting systems in the US are not secure. He further made a statement that he is afraid that some of the more ruthless partisans of the GOP, may have exploited systems he in part worked on for this purpose. Mr. Connell builds front end applications, user interfaces and web sites. Knowing his team and their skills I find it unlikely they would be the vote thieves directly. I believe however he knows who is doing that work, and has likely turned a blind eye to this activity. Mr. Connell is a devout Catholic. He has admitted to me that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections.

SourceWatch resources

 * Mike Connell

External resources

 * Velvet Revolution Interviews Stephen Spoonamore (segment 1)
 * Velvet Revolution Interviews Stephen Spoonamore (segment 2)
 * 2005 Stephen Spoonamore Interview (3 of 8)
 * 2005 Stephen Spoonamore Interview (4 of 8)
 * 2005 Stephen Spoonamore Interview (5 of 8)
 * 2005 Stephen Spoonamore Interview (6 of 8)
 * Velvet Revolution Interviews Stephen Spoonamore (segment 7)
 * Velvet Revolution Interviews Stephen Spoonamore (segment 8)