America's computerized voting system isn't just as easy to hack into as Target credit systems, but is "programmed to cheat," according to an explosive report by a long-time election forensics expert.

"The grim truth that is so hard to tell and so hard to swallow is that America's electoral system has been corrupted in the most direct and fundamental of ways: the computers that now count virtually all of our votes in secret can be—and, the evidence indicates, have been—programmed to cheat," said Jonathan Simon.



He has just published a new version of his book on vote theft, "CODE RED: Computerized Election Theft and The New American Century," and is warning of how the 2016 election could be corrupted not by fake voters but overwhelming system rigging.

And he suggests it impacted the GOP primaries and Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders.

#IfTheMediaRiggedTheElection is best understood from the perspective of computerized election fraud. Read about it https://t.co/fnWPcsQACZ — Jonathan Simon (@JonathanSimon14) October 19, 2016



"To override the will of the voters and change the outcome of elections. To steal and hold power that could not be gained and held legitimately. Ultimately to reshape America more effectively than could a junta rolling tanks down Pennsylvania Avenue. The junta would, by its very visibility, at least provoke resistance," said Simon, also head of the group Election Defense Alliance.

Simon suggests that it has already happened, but said that getting access to investigate the fraud and computer theft is nearly impossible. But using elections and polling numbers, he raises questions about the outcomes of several past elections.

In an interview, said that Americans are too trusting of elections boards and machines. He said that there is little or now way to verify vote counts on computers and said that a sketchy programmer or elections official can shift vote numbers around to favor their wished for result while still showing accurate numbers of votes. "It's child's play," he said.

"The system is unobservable and computerized," he said. "It's privatized, computerized and outsourced to a lot of private corporations," said Simon. He said that nobody audits votes or even back checks the results. And he argued for a new system that can be audited.

Pollster John Zogby said Simon has hit on a potential landmine.

"He raises a lot of questions about votes that cannot be validated. No election is as pure as Ivory Snow but these are some troubling issues," Zogby told Secrets.

In the new version, Simon credits Donald Trump for at least raising the issue of rigged elections.

He writes:

"Whatever one's opinion of Donald Trump as an avatar of electoral integrity, it was only a matter of time before someone, whether from a place of fairness or from one of self-interest, called into question a vote counting system that cannot be seen. This emperor has been walking around naked for 15 years now and the real mystery is why it has taken that long for anyone to mention the obvious. Nor is Trump the only one speaking publicly of rigging and hacking: the forensically bizarre 2016 primaries triggered such allegations, lawsuits, and a wave of distrust from millions of supporters of the Sanders candidacy

"However you feel about such stirrings, you can sense that the political and electoral environments have undergone a sea change. Our electoral system has failed badly in the translation of public will into electoral outcomes and representative government, and the result has been a rapidly metastasizing politics of disgust and distrust."

See his book here.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com