A new documentary movie on election fraud produced by Katie Couric will be sent out to politicians whose responses will then be publicly tracked to reveal whether or not they viewed the film.
“I Voted?” analyzes the inconsistencies and irregularities of the US voting process, highlighting two races: the 2000 Presidential election, which the Supreme Court awarded to George W. Bush over Al Gore, and Alvin Greene’s controversial election victory as the Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2010 US Senate election in South Carolina, despite never having campaigned.
Veteran TV journalist Couric, who is now a Yahoo! News anchor, was an executive producer of “I Voted” and advised on the first cut of the film. She got to know director Jason Grant Smith through her second husband, John Molner, and moderated a panel when the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last week.
Metaverse street-look #tribecafilmfestival Director Jason Grant Smith with Executive Produ… https://t.co/kYAn9wNGtX pic.twitter.com/94Oe77Oseg
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Smith told Heat Street he was close to a distribution deal for “I Voted?” following its premiere and that he would widely distribute it to politicians. Subsequently he would install technology to publicly track online which politicians had seen it in the hope that some voters would pressure their elected representatives into viewing the film.
“I am doing it, but I don’t know the specific mechanics at this stage,” Smith said. “I am currently building a database of who is going to get it. I will be sending the film out to everybody that is a policy maker, politician and decision maker—the people that influence how we vote.
“They need to be held accountable and that democratic process needs to be transparent. The only way change happens is if the public pressure their elected representatives and policymakers and implement election law.”
“I Voted?” argues the prospect of electoral fraud would be minimized by a return to paper ballots, instead of electronic voting systems, and meaningful post-election audits.
Couric, who in the last two years has produced documentaries on obesity and gun control, praised the film at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere but in a reference to its average production values, she told Smith during the post-screening panel that also featured ABC’s legal anchor Dan Abrams :”The amateurish quality added so much and underscored the fact the you were a citizen searching for answers.”
Couric told Heat Street the 2016 Presidential election was unprecedented: “It’s one of the most colorful, entertaining and fascinating elections of my lifetime. The personalities are so big and it’s because it’s been impossible to predict.
“I think it’s shown the disconnect between the electorate—the people—and their representatives and the media. It’s been a very eye-opening experience for me.”
