Diebold among winning bidders for N.C. voting equipment sales

[Thom Little]

The State Board of Elections approved three companies Thursday to sell voting machines to all 100 counties in time for next year's elections, including a firm that complained earlier it couldn't comply with all the rules for computer software.

Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems & Software and Sequoia Voting Systems all met minimum technical and administrative standards to sell in North Carolina, as determined by a panel of computer and election experts.

The standards were developed under a state law approved this year after more than 4,400 electronic ballots were lost in Carteret County during the November 2004 election. The lost votes threw at least one close statewide race into uncertainty for more than two months.

Although Sequoia must wait for approval from a special procurement board due to a clerical delay, all three will be allowed to sell both optical ballot scanning and electronic recording machines to county election boards, which administer elections in North Carolina.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_VOTING_PROBLEMS_NCOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-01-18-32-55

[Chicago Democrat]

1. Who runs the state election is NC? Neo freaks or honest Dems?

Diebold must be stopped.

[wildeyed]

23. The BOE is allegedly controlled by the dems.

:shrug:

[leftchick]

2. o m g....

:banghead:

[MelissaB]

11. That was my response when I read this in the thread in Election Reform.

I'm not believing this. Let me join you.

:banghead:

[stepnw1f]

3. How Is This Possible?

You stupid mother%@$%#$@^%&'s!!!!!!!!!

[merwin]

4. But a judge ruled that they have to give their code up for review if they

sell in NC.

They're not barred from selling, and I really doubt they will sell there.

[leftchick]

15. that is what I thought after yesterday!

I am confused! Please someone give me hope!

[Al-CIAda]

5. Democracy is over...has been for a few years now. -nt

[skipos]

13. VA, CA and NJ 05. It may be an uphill battle, but it isn't over.

[Sperk]

6. I thought Diebold was pulling out of NC because the courts were

going to force them to reveal they're sourse code. :wtf:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051129/ap_on_hi_te/voting_problems

[WHAT]

7. See this post...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x403561

Brad: Diebold certified in NC after all by former Diebold rep!

on edit: it just doesn't seem like this could be legal?.

[stepnw1f]

9. Conflict of Interest Maybe?

This is just OUTRAGEOUS!

[Pavulon]

8. NC

Has a democrat govenor and state house.

[VegasWolf]

10. Makes me proud to be an Murikan! From fucking shining sea to fucking

shiny sea.

:sarcasm:

[tavalon]

26. You post here

Therefore, you aren't a Murikan, you're an American.

I'm furious too.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Thank God it's in time for next year's elections!

:party:

[AX10]

14. How the HELL did this happen?

I want nothing more right now than to see the 101st airborne shutdown GOD DAMN DIEBOLD! :argh:

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Apparently, the SBoe has sold us out

I am working to get more details on what happened and why.

This IS NOT over.

No sir, not by a long shot.

[OregonBlue]

17. Here is link to BlackBoxVoting forum. NC claims they conducted

the source code audit of Diebold in less than 24 hours. General consensus is that that is not possible. Can they be forced to reveal how the audit was conducted?

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/8/15532.html

[Kelvin Mace]

19. The audit was NOT conducted

I am not aware that NC is claiming it was. Justin's letter is pointing out sarcastically to the SBoE that they did not do their job.

Be wary of anything on Bev Harris' site.

We are gathering information and pondering our option, up to and including filing suit.

[OregonBlue]

20. Thanks for the head up about BBV. If no review was conducted

I assume you can take this back to court to force it? God I hope so!

[Kelvin Mace]

21. The option is being discussed

but I am waiting for all the fact first.

[truthisfreedom]

18. woah, slow down. it's time to take a good long look at what's going on...

check all of the threads on this subject.

and merry fizmas!


treason's greetings!

[OregonBlue]

22. Reply from Mark Binker, reporter for Greensboro News-Record re:

State Certified Diebold Machines Codes in less than 24 hours? The election official who will review source code is former Diebold rep?

Mark's Reply:

What we were told yesterday was that now that the SBOE has given tentative certification to the three companies (Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S) there would be a two-week review period during which the companies would have to meet certain conditions - including escrowing their code, a process that I'm told involves making sure what's in escrow is actually what's running the machines.

As for the other fellow you mention, yes, we've written about him:

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051113/NEWSREC0101/511130328

More on this topic:
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/capblog/archives/2005/11/weekend_update_4.html
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/capblog/archives/2005/11/diebold_case_th.html
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/capblog/archives/2005/12/we_will_we_wont.html

In general, we'll be keeping tabs on the process of rolling out new voting equipment across the state, especially now that we have folks in charge of the elections saying they think they'll be hard pressed to meet the prescribed deadlines.

Thanks for your question.

--mark

[truthisfreedom]

24. CORRUPTION! ANNOUNCE IT FAR AND WIDE!

AND KEEP ANNOUNCING IT!

[raysr]

25. Are they afraid that their

"safe" votes in the south might be up for grabs?