‘The truth is chilling…’
– 42 MILLION TO ONE
On August 4th, Double M Publishing released Hal Malchow’s latest book, 42 MILLION TO ONE, a political thriller about voting machine manipulation. Hal Malchow is one of America’s leading political consultants. Over his career, he has worked for five Democratic presidential nominees and in 2016, Hal was inducted into the American Association of Political Consultants Hall of Fame.
While 42 MILLION TO ONE is a fictional story, it is set against an alarming background of real events, demonstrating how easy it is to hack a voting machine and change the outcome of elections and evidence that outcomes have been changed.
“They say truth is stranger than fiction. But when fiction is this true, it’s the best of both worlds. Having written a book on the truth of election manipulation in America, I congratulate Hal Malchow for a novel that is just as true and a lot more fun. Forty-Two Million to One is really gripping, really important (especially now), and really good.”
Jonathan Simon, author of CODE RED: Computerized Elections and The War on American Democracy
I am delighted to bring you all an excerpt today, one I hope whet’s your appetite and gives you a flavour of this very relevant read.
[ About the Book ]
How secure are our elections? What if you knew that hacking a voting machine is so easy that at a cyber security conference in 2017 an entire array of commonly used machines was hacked in a matter of hours? What if you knew that in 301 elections Republican candidates outperformed exit polls over a 12 year period? What if you knew that the odds of that happening by random chance are 42 million to one?
42 Million to One is a political thriller about voting machine manipulation. In this thought-provoking book, Lucy Gilmore, a young reporter, begins a journey to uncover proof that voting machines have been hacked and that the outcomes of elections have been altered. Along the way, she discovers the real events that demonstrate just how vulnerable our democracy has become. 42 Million to One speaks not just to voting machine corruption but the state of our democracy and why our struggle to govern effectively becomes more difficult every year.
[ Excerpt – 42 MILLION TO ONE ]
Lucy Gilmore
One summer night in Charleston, South Carolina, I saw something I was not supposed to see. I wasn’t even looking. That is God’s truth. But I saw. And the next thing I knew my whole world was turning upside down.
My name is Lucy Gilmore. At the time this story begins I was 25 years old and a reporter for The Washington Post. I had attained this lofty position at a young age after, as a cub reporter in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I uncovered graft in City Hall and was fired by my editor, a close friend of the mayor. Jobless but determined, I dug through the city dump to find the documents I needed and took them to the Charlotte Observer, which ran the story. The whole triumphant martyr thing was cause for celebration in newspaper circles. A job offer from The Washington Post followed.
Okay, that’s all good but that’s not the story I am here to tell. I’ve got a better story, much better. It begins in Charleston, South Carolina, on primary election day in 2018. You see, my uncle, my beloved uncle, Vince Rawlings, was running for the United States Senate. I drove down from Washington, D.C., for his primary election night party.
His Republican opponent was Jim Mintura, a pompous Tea Party incumbent senator. Vince had never run statewide. He had been a circuit judge. But in a recent SC Index/Crantford poll Vince had pulled within seven points of Mintura even though hardly any-body in South Carolina even knew who my uncle was. So Democrats, while still skeptical of his chances, were starting to talk my uncle up. The primary was a whole other matter. Vince was basically unopposed. Basically. He had an opponent named Barry White. White spent no money, made no campaign appearances, and had no website. I later learned that his filing fee of $10,400 was paid anonymously. His campaign strategy seemed to be to hide in his house and hope no voter would knock on his door. So all we thought about that night was the upcoming fall campaign against Jim Mintura. The celebration was held at eight that night at the Southend Brewery, one of these new brew pubs that had gotten pretty popular. It was a refurbished warehouse and when you walked in the door the first thing you saw was a big row of stainless steel tanks telling you their beer was fresh. Vince’s party was on the second floor, one cavernous room that overlooked the harbor. We retreated to the back corner of the room and gathered around one TV.
In most victory celebrations, the candidate waits in a suite several floors up and, when the outcome is clear, he or she makes a grand appearance, a sometimes gracious speech, and, of course, regardless of the outcome, thanks all who had given their time and money for the campaign.
But Uncle Vince was right there in the room chatting, giving hugs, glowing in anticipation of the small victory he was about to achieve. I walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned, opened his arms, and consumed me in a huge hug that I was, frankly, damned proud to receive. He stepped back and looked at me with a large smile.
“Lucy, you look great. Congratulations on getting that job at The Post. No one deserved it more.” Then he paused and his smile spread. “How are those Cubs doing?”
Okay, I am a Cubs fan. Holy Jesus. I am a huge Cubs fan. But more on that later.
“Not as well as you are going to do tonight, Uncle Vince.”
[ Bio]
Hal Malchow has enjoyed a long and successful career as one of America’s leading political consultants, and has worked for five Democratic presidential nominees. Hal Malchow’s writing career began when his then eight-year-old son approached him about writing a book together. Two years later, they completed the first draft of The Sword of Darrow, a highly acclaimed young adult fantasy novel.
In 2014, he published a sequel, The Dragon and the Firefly. He followed that book in 2018 with a political thriller, No Popes in Heaven.
His new book, 42 Million to One, is a fictional story set against an alarming background of real events demonstrating how easy it is to hack a voting machine and change the outcome of our elections and evidence that outcomes have been changed.
Twitter ~ @halmalchow
Website ~ https://halmalchow.com/
