America Blackout - National Geographic

If all of the votes have been counted in Florida and if all of the African American had the opportunity to cast a vote, George Bush would have never been President of the United States.

We wouldn't be involved in a war in Iraq and the makeup of the Supreme Court would be different. Many have heard of the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004.

Until now, these incidents have gone under- reported and are commonly written-off as insignificant rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.

American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Mckinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

What if the Doomsday Preppers were right all along? Hacking into urban infrastructures isn't science fiction anymore - it's in the news every day. A 90-minute docu-drama, "American Blackout" reveals in gritty detail the impact of what happens when a cyber attack on the United States takes down the power grid. The question is: when the lights go out, what do we do next.

American Blackout (2006) is a documentary film directed by Ian Inaba. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film chronicles the 2002 defeat, and 2004 reelection, of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney to the U.S. House of Representatives; it also discusses issues surrounding alleged voter disenfranchisement and the use of voting machines in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

The film focuses heavily on McKinney, and claims that her 2002 loss in a Democratic primary to Denise Majette (who, like McKinney, is African-American) was part of an effort to disenfranchise minority voters. McKinney claims that Republican voters in her district tipped the primary election to Majette. This itself is legal, as Georgia law opens primaries to all voters irrespective of party. After losing, McKinney filed a lawsuit claiming that open primaries are a violation of the 14th Amendment, but a court dismissed the case.

The film also includes civil rights leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis with a powerful recounting of the march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Also Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders appears in this documentary speaking about the desire of big money to keep voter turnout low. This Documentary won the Special Jury Prize (Documentary Jury) at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival