Diebold leaves NC rather than disclose software

[DemDogs]

From the Raleigh News and Observer today:

Voting machine maker leaves N.C.
Officials fear Diebold's move will hurt efforts to replace machines

Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer

One of the nation's largest voting machine companies will not sell new equipment in the state, increasing calls for changes in a law meant to make election results more reliable.
The law requires companies to disclose details about their machines' software, which Diebold Election Systems said it could not do. The company told the State Board of Elections on Wednesday it would not keep trying to sell its equipment here.


Cross posting to LBN

[eridani]

1. That's odd. They are bragging about their open source for ATMs

http://www6.diebold.com/solutions/agilis/prepackagedsolutions.htm

Agilis prepackaged terminal software features the latest open technology and is designed to fit seamlessly in your existing host environment as well as be deployed to multi-vendor ATMs.

Upgrade to a state-of-the-art and extensible prepackaged solution, while protecting your legacy host investment.

Deliver a consistent brand image and user experience across all terminals in your network.

Make your ATM network more profitable by eliminating redundant software developments and lowering operation and maintenance costs now that a single software application can run on all your terminals.

Use your existing transaction screens or develop new screens with Internet technology, thereby protecting your investment and expanding the possibilities.

Integrate best-of-breed open system software to work with your ATMs by leveraging Microsoft® Windows® and the latest industry standards technology.
Increase customer satisfaction and revenue potential through the addition of expanded services and targeted marketing.

Diebold offers prepackaged solutions for the most popular host message formats. Each one allows you to:

Maintain a single host driver across all multi-vendor ATMs

Use a single set of states/screens for all multi-vendor ATMs

Make code changes once for all multi-vendor ATMs

Maintain a single application to monitor all multi-vendor ATMs

[AlinPA]

2. PA will not approve machines unless source is made available. I was

at a demo at a mall for our county that is evaluating machines and the county commissioner and election guy (information systems type) said "they were having trouble with Diebold in Harrisburg around the source code". They said source code must be in the hands of Harrisburg election people to verify.