This just in…After various protracted legal battles (funded by the National Federation for the Blind, which had received a $1 million “donation” from Diebold previously) and along with the news out of Leon County, Florida, Volusia County has now come to their senses and also decided to dump Diebold voting machines!
Just out from the Orlando Sentinel…
The move, which will cost more than $2.5 million just for the equipment, was prompted by a federal mandate to buy at least one handicapped-accessible voting machine per precinct by Jan. 1. But the only such devices approved for use in Florida are ATM-like touch-screen machines that don’t use paper ballots. But a majority of County Council members want devices that use paper.
The agreement approved Friday on a 4-3 vote allows the county to trade in the paperless touch screens for an ES&S-supported ballot-marking device with an accessible touch-screen called AutoMark if it gets approved for use in Florida. That would cost an additional $150,000.
If AutoMark certification doesn’t happen by April 1, the county has the option to get out of the entire contract with ES&S and get a full refund.
…
The vote ends a nearly year-old debate in Volusia County about how to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, which mandates accessible voting devices.
A report received by The BRAD BLOG late last night from an activist down in Volusia in regard to the meeting anticipated today, summed it up thusly:
Well, three on the Volusia County Council still held out for Diebold. Fortunately, four didn’t…and the vote wasn’t held on paperless, hackable touch-screen machines, so it was transparent and reliable.
This report is yet another blow for Diebold coming on top of the resignation of their CEO, Walden O’Dell on Monday, along with a securities fraud lawsuit and the failed security test in Leon County on Tuesday. Quite a week for Diebold!
Our congratulations to the hard working citizen patriots in Volusia County and across Florida who have worked tirelessly on this issue for many months. Keep up the good work, folks! Democracy may not be dead yet!
Additional reporting on this story by John Gideon
Thank You Brad for keeping this in the publics eye.All I can say is YEA! Now if it just gets to the TV msm so knuckleheads that don’t READ will get this most important news.
OHMYGAWD!!!!! What an amazing turn of events! Thank you, Brad, for staying on top of this story! It is so bloody hard to keep talking about this issue, even though it keeps happening over and over again. It is enraging to have my sanity questioned by people who clearly do not want to admit to themselves that it is all true… and what it all means.I am scared and thrilled at the same time… what the heck?!? I like roller coasters…. 😀
In comparison… how much faith can we have in ES&S?
I have been suspicious of Diebold since its former and very recently "retired" CEO promised to deliver the election in Ohio to Bush in 2004. He and Blackwell managed to do just that, now that we know for certain that the Diebold machines are easy to hack and Blackwell took numerous and illegal steps to prevent citizens in his state from voting. Perhaps O’Dell and Blackwell should share a cell in a maximum security federal prison.
It takes a corrupted corporate leader and dishonest election official to undo a Democracy.
If you want the real low down on the "election" 2004 check out the report from US Counts Votes.org. This is a non-profit, non-partisan group comprised of mostly volunteer Ph.D. level mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists. They have disclosed a lot of discrepancies and anomalies in 2004, especially in Ohio.
US COUNTS VOTES
I love Bev Harris, shes the one making this all possible,
we can’t stop fireing until the SS Diebold is fully sunk though
ARRRR MATEY
Thanks again Bev and Brad, you’ve done wonders on this issue and truly brought it full circle!!!!
Florida needs to dump all of Diebold alltogether, and go with either AutoMark or paper ballots.
AutoMark is by ES&S this is true. But it is a voter verified system that is completely tested and works great for the disabled. When there’s no other alternative, AutoMark works great for what it does.
Just don’t ever buy anything else from ES&S….they certainly aren’t trustworthy for these elections!
Ivotronic machines by ES&S lost and stole thousands of votes in previous elections. Never heard any of those stories about the paper ballot machines or AutoMark, but their paperless technology was all trojan horses.
Doug E.
There are some differences.
In North Carolina – it was Diebold who publicly challenged the statues of our Verified Voting law.
Diebold ducks deadline – can’t comply with legal requirements.
News&Observer – Nov 9, 2005
http://www.newsobserver.com/102...ry/363005.html
At least ES&S didn’t try to dismantle our law:
"Election Systems and Software, another voting-machine maker,has no problem with the law as written because the company
writes its own software for its touch-screen voting machines, a spokeswoman said Monday."
http://www.news-record.com/apps.../NEWSREC020107
ES&S has it’s own operating system, not third party.
They are willing to turn all of that over.
NOT Diebold, though:
Douglas W. Jones THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Department of Computer Science
Furthermore, it is emerging that the version of Windows CE used by Diebold is both heavily customized and full of dynamically loaded libraries. As a result, there are strong grounds for the conclusion that the operating system is not unmodified commercial off the shelf software (COTS), and that with this extensive use of dynamic linkage, we cannot even tell if the system being run on a particular voting machine resembles the system that was disclosed in the configuration documents submitted with this system when it went through the FEC/NASED approval process.
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/...ieboldftp.html
ES&S may be dirty & stole a few elections, but it sure as hell isn’t Diebold.
Nobody in the voting industry is dirtier or more election fraud prone that Diebold. They gave Ohio over to the wrong person…..it was their partner company, Danaher systems who was responsible for touch-screen fraud.
They were the machine workers of all the Optical Scan in Lucas & Hamilton Counties, all the op-scans are Diebold. The main tabulator is not ES&S it is basically Diebold, and Blackwell of Ohio used the Diebold GEMS most likely on election night….there’s a reason Blackwell doesn’t want to testify under oath about CompuWare. CompuWare is the "third party" software that Diebold uses and its proned to fraud and he knows it, Black Box Voting got the open records on this "CompuWare" ordeal..
I just wish someone had enough on CompuWare to take it to court and file a civil rights-lawsuit for all damages. Clearly if it can be proven they tampered with it and Blackwell or other Secs of State knew about the defects, than they can all be recalled…..full on product recall would close down all their workshops.
It’d probably shut down UNILECT PATRIOT & DANAHER too if the Diebold litigation goes all the way to the top!
Doug E
It just keeps getting better! This was just posted to BBV.org by John Howard. Thanks John!
Black Box Voting Forums: Latest News : Internet News & Blogs: Investigation of Diebold, Inc. 401k Plans
————————————————————
Posted by John Howard on Friday, December 16, 2005 – 03:43 pm:
Schatz & Nobel, P.C. Announces Class Action Lawsuit against Diebold Inc. and the Investigation of Diebold, Inc. 401k Plans
"Schatz & Nobel, P.C. also has substantial experience representing employees who have suffered losses investing in their employer’s stock through a company sponsored 401(k) plan. If you bought Diebold stock through the Diebold, Incorporated 401k Savings Plan and have information or would like to learn more about your rights as a plan participant, please contact us. "
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxconte...cpath=20051216
When it rains, it pours!
PAV 😉
And then there’s this.
Black Box Voting Forums: Latest News : Internet News & Blogs: Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins files suit
————————————————————
Posted by John Howard on Friday, December 16, 2005 – 03:46 pm:
Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP Files Class Action Suit Against Diebold, Incorporated
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 16, 2005–Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP ("Lerach Coughlin") (http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/diebold/) today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on behalf of purchasers of Diebold, Incorporated ("Diebold") (NYSE:DBD) common stock during the period between October 22, 2003 and September 20, 2005 (the "Class Period").
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxconte...cpath=20051216
Thanks again John!
PAV 😉
Diebold’s Failed Security Test/Voting Machines. Not at all surprised to hear this become true. Employed @ Diebold for several years, also was personally introduced to Mr. O’Dell upon his C.E.O. Position with Diebold from the start. I will say that from the start of Production with Diebold Voting Machines, It was said that we will be the ( First to Design/Manufacture the Machine. ) The Voting Machine was Manufactured/Shipped before fully Designed/Engineered!!!
Also many changes within the Company were made for the Sake of the Corporate. Not the Employee.
I would like to hear more from Jim and OTHER Diebold employees about their knowledge of the Diebold e-voting machine system security integrity.
This news still has a looong way to go until we can rest assured that our elections are safe.
That said, here is a bit of good news:
"The Warren County Republican Party respectfully asks that no taxpayer money be appropriated for the purchase of electronic voting machines from Diebold, or any other provider, until such time as all questions regarding the certification process and the relationship between Chairman Leake and Diebold’s representatives have been satisfactorily answered."
http://www.hendersondispatch.co...ters/let02.txt
I am glad that this story is finally starting to break party lines, as well it should.
Three cheers for Mike Wilburt, and let’s hope that others realize this is not a party-line issue, but an issue of the present and future of America’s democracy.
MikeyCan
Brad, It looks to me now the story is getting its own legs now (I hope)
You the MAN!
With an EX Diebold employee coming here to comment,
His words sound like exactly what I expected to hear,
(sounds like whats going on inside every Corporation today)
We just need more like Jim to come out and say these things to keep it real (Thanks Jim)
Brad & John,
Regarding the 4-to-3 vote in Volusia–could you find out and post the names of the 4 who voted to get rid of Diebold, and the 3 who wanted to keep them? Contact details, too, if possible. Florida folks who read BB can communicate appropriately (praise or flame).
The people making decisions on our behalf need this feedback.
M3 #3
I suggest you visit Black Box Voting Org (link here).
Bev, Jim, and the fine crew over there are in the know on voting machines.
Will this be enough for MSM to quit ignoring the story?
Are we getting anywhere close to a presidential recall yet?
Thank you, Brad and Bev for your tireless efforts!
I just discovered that the BBV post about Leon county hack and about Volusia mentions the names of the Volusia Committee members who voted for & against ES&S machines (instead of Diebold):
"Chairman Frank Bruno, Art Giles, Carl Persis and Dwight Lewis voted for the ES&S contract. Council members Joie Alexander, Bill Long and Dwight Lewis opposed it."
If there are 6 or 7 BB readers in Florida who want to let these folks (or the media) know what they think about their respective votes on this subject, go for it!
Jim March’s complete post at BBV (including more recent additions) can be found here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bi...5096#POST15096
I just read that last week in a simulated election in Volusa county Fla. that a hacker was able to sit in a hotel room with a laptop and adjust the election tallies to exactly as they were in 04 or any other way that he wanted to.
Folks I wonder if it’s time for a million of us or so to go to DC and adjust the honesty of some of our leaders from the flagpoles. LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY
but remember ,all voting laws "are just (another) piece of paper".
Herr bush must be hoping for another 911 like event about now.
how many of your phone calls and emails have been intercepted ,don’t worry only terrorist have things to hide, who does that remind you of ?
Karl Rove & Dick Cheney are going down, lets focus on permanently ending this charade….not on their lame false flag attacks…whether threats or real.
Doug Eldritch
Bob Urosevich, together with his brother Todd, founded ES&S. Bob then went to run Diebold, while Todd still is a Vice President at ES&S. Diebold and ES&S, together, count about 80 percent of the votes in the United States.
How can you be happy with ES&S when they same crooks run them as Diebold?
ES&S is different from Diebold in what way? Any? How many Republicans run it?
How do I start the process of getting rid of the Diebold voting machines in Fayette County, Georgia, which is very much a Republican stronghold? Is the choice of voting machines made at the County or state level? Does your site have links to help people like me know what effective action to take in their own communities to try to assure the integrity of the voting process? I didn’t see them.
Former, disgraced, Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Deanie Lowe installed the Diebold machines in time for the highly contested election for Volusia County sheriff in 1996.
In that election, incumbent Robert Vogel narrowly defeated challenger Gus Beckstrom by a margin just a few votes over the 0.5% necessary for a mandatory recount.
Beckstrom sued and the resulting court case:
Showed that deputies loyal to Vogel spent the weekend in the Supervisor’s office, overnight, without supervision, with access to the absentee ballots.
The unusually large absentee vote was sufficient to overturn a precinct victory for Beckstrom of 5,000 votes.
Over 9,000 of the 25,000 absentee ballots were tampered with UNDER THE DIRECTION AND SUPERVISION of Lowe who defended her actions as "necessary to make the Diebold machines read the ballots."
Lowe was heavily in debt and facing bankruptcy at the time of the election.
Judge John Doyle concluded that the sanctity of the ballots had been destroyed, but by examining them in open court, THEY WERE RE-SANCTIFIED (leading one to conclude that Doyle equates himself with God).
Finally, the Florida Supreme Court concluded that Doyle was wrong on law when he ruled that he, as Judge, did not have the authority to declare the tampered ballots invalid and should be thrown out, but they, the Supreme Court, had no right to overturn the Judges decision.
As a close observer in this case, I suspected all along that the Diebold machines could have been hacked to give Vogel the needed margin. Sanchez proved that they could be, but only by insiders, such as Lowe and her staff troll, Lana Hires.
Ironic that four years later the State of Florida *gave* the national election to the failed war-time President George W. Bush.
Joe McDaniel #24
If you go to blackboxvoting.org and register there, the forums have a place for one-to-one help with exactly what you are asking about (what actions to take in Fayette County, Georgia).
very informative stuff, real eye opening.
Here is the background you need, to understand what’s happening in Florida. By manipulating deadlines and certifications, the Jeb Bush administration has made it ILLEGAL for any county official to conduct an ordinary, old fashioned, legitimate (verifiable) election in the state of Florida. Every polling place is required to have at least one handicap-accessible machine, of a model approved by the Bush administration, and the Bush administration has ONLY approved unverifiable models. Therefore every vote total for every polling place will be an unverifiable number.
Counties with good leaders, like Leon and Volusia, have been scrambling to try to find a way to minimize the number of illegitimate elections they will be forced to conduct. ES&S has offered an interesting deal, which will allow the county to switch to verifiable machines at little or no cost, IF AND WHEN the state stops obstructing the certification of verifiable voting machines.
Diebold not only has not offered such a deal, but they have not even STARTED the process of submitting their verifiable handicap-accessible voting machine for certification in Florida. And they have even threatened reprisals against any county official who allows ballots which have been marked by an AutoMark (instead of by a pen) to be fed into a Diebold optical-scan machine.
So, switching from Diebold to ES&S is obviously a wise choice. But it does NOT solve the problem: even the best counties in Florida will be conducting illegitimate (unverifiable) elections, until the Jeb Bush administration allows at least one verifiable handicap-accessible voting machine to be certified.
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