Yesterday the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project (IBIP) issued a press release that is, as I explained to Brad Friedman, “un-freaking-believable”. The DuPage County chapter of IBIP has been hard at work tracking cronyism and favoritism on the part of DuPage County, IL Election Commission Chairman J.P. “Rick” Carney in his dealings with Diebold Election Systems representatives from Fidlar Elections and Liberty LLC.
Kudos to IBIP for some great reporting!
The complete “un-freaking-believable” press release follows below…
Contact: Melissa Urda (630) 357-0744 Or Jean Kaczmarek (630) 469-2166
FIDLAR FIRED? DUPAGE WATCHDOG GROUP SAYS “NO!”
GLEN ELLYN, Oct. 12, 2006 — Recent public remarks by DuPage County Election Commission Chairman J.P. “Rick” Carney attempting to deflect criticism of cronyism in the selection of election vendors has led to yet another discovery of favoritism, according to the DuPage Chapter of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project. IBIP recently revealed that Carney had received $12,500 in campaign contributions from Fidlar Doubleday, the “premier dealer” for Diebold Election Systems, Inc., prior to voting for the highly controversial touch screen machines in December 2005. Fidlar had supplied voting machines, technical assistance and election materials to the Commission for years. The new revelations concern Carney’s remarks published by The Daily Herald.
Carney’s response to this finding were published in a front page article in The Daily Herald on Oct. 5, 2006. Robert Sanchez wrote, quoting Carney, “‘All I know is they (Fidlar) no longer represent Diebold at the election commission,’ Carney said. ‘That’s a fact.'” Carney explained that the $500,000 contract with Fidlar for the printing of ballots had been given to another company.
That company, however, turns out to be Liberty Systems LLC of Wheaton, IL, owned by William Barrett, former vice president of sales of Fidlar Doubleday — the person in charge of the department which sold the Diebold TSx touch screen machines to DuPage County. According to County line-item expenditures, as of Sept. 1, 2006, $200,000 had been paid to Barrett’s company, headquartered in his Wheaton residence, by the Commission for printing services. More payments are expected in connection with the November 7th election. Barrett had personally contributed to Carney’s campaigns between 2000 and 2002.
“Regardless of Mr. Carney’s attempts to dilute and conceal his relationship with Fidlar, DuPage County is still stuck with his vote on December 2005. We’re still stuck with Diebold touch screens on election day,” says Jean Kaczmarek, co-chair of the Project’s DuPage Chapter.
In the same news story, Carney was quoted as saying, “They no longer have any contracts with the election commission at all.” Members of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project are perplexed by Carney’s statement, given that the 31-page contract he signed with Fidlar in Dec. 2005 has provisions for maintenance and licensing fees which will continue for 20 years. A phone call to Diebold Election Services’ headquarters last week brought assurances that Fidlar was Diebold’s only dealer for DuPage County. Futhermore, payments to Fidlar appear in the Commission’s line-item expenditures as recently as May 2006, including a $45,000.00 payment for the Diebold GEMS service agreement. Melisa Urda, co-chair, says, “How can we have trust in our election officials when they claim a contract is no longer current, though current contracts and line items say otherwise?”
“If Carney’s statement is true, the Commission should furnish citizens of DuPage County with the agreement to terminate this contract and the new agreements with other vendors, at the customary $1 per page of course,” said Robert Wilson, chairman of the Project’s Cook County Chapter, referencing the Commission’s exorbitant fees for duplication of public records.
Campaign disclosures to the Illinois State Board of Elections revealed the Committee to Elect J.P. “Rick” Carney received a $9000.00 in-kind contribution from Fidlar which paid for the bulk of his retirement party at Wilton Manor in Wheaton, Ill. on Nov. 18, 2004. Prior to that, on Sept. 16, 2004 and May 5, 2003, Fidlar contributed $3000.00 and $500.00 respectively to Carney.
Carney had served five terms as DuPage County Recorder until he retired in 2004. Briefly, Carney was a Republican candidate for the U.S. 6th District of Illinois to fill Rep. Henry Hyde’s upcoming slot. On Nov. 15, 2005, Carney was appointed to serve on the DuPage County Election Commission by DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom. Carney was sworn in as Commission chairman on Jan. 12, 2006. Carney was among the Commissioners who voted unanimously for the Diebold TSx touch screen voting machines over the two other contenders — Hart InterCivic eSlate and the ES&S iVotronic. The Dec. 29, 2005 vote barely beat the Jan. 1, 2006 deadline to receive over $4 million in Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funding for the electronic voting machines.
The Daily Herald quoted Carney, “You’ve got to understand that old Fidlar were friends of mine,” he said. “The new Fidlar are enemies of mine.” Those old friends included Barrett, who resigned from his position earlier this year, and Jay Bennett, former CEO of Fidlar Doubleday, who resigned in Dec. 2005. Both Barrett and Bennett had strong DuPage ties.
Barrett was employed in the Clerk’s office in 1971 when the County was moving from paper ballots to a punch card voting system. He left this position in 1980 to work in sales for Fidlar & Chambers, which provided punch card services to nearly half of the counties in Illinois until the middle 1990’s, eventually leading to optical scan and touch screen voting systems. (Fidlar & Chambers merged with Doubleday Bros., Inc. in 1999.) In 2001, Barrett was promoted to vice president of sales for Fidlar Election, overseeing election sales operations in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota. Barrett resigned from Fidlar earlier this year and formed Liberty Systems LLC in June.
Bennett served as Deputy Clerk in the Elections Department for DuPage County from 1966 to 1973 and as Assistant Executive Director of the DuPage County Election Commission from 1973 to 1981, began working at Fidlar & Chambers in 1981. Bennett contributed $4000.00 to the DuPage County Republican Central Committee in 2002 and 2003. In 2003, Fidlar Doubleday became the “premier dealer” for Diebold Election Systems, Inc.
Bennett ultimately became CEO of Fidlar Doubleday and in that capacity regularly attended the Election Commission’s board meetings in 2005 until he resigned in December. Bennett now serves as Deputy County Clerk of Kane County. The week after Bennett left Fidlar Doubleday, Diebold CEO Walden O’Dell also resigned. The next day, multiple class-action lawsuits began being filed against Diebold, alleging insider trading, stock price manipulation and other malfeasance by eight current and former top Diebold executives. An investigation of Diebold, Inc. by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission is also underway.
“It appears that there is a revolving door with election vendors like Fidlar, their personnel, and the DuPage County Clerk’s office,” says Urda.
The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is incorporated as a not-for-profit, non-partisan civic organization dedicated to the correction of election system deficiencies and ensuring fair, accurate, and completely transparent elections. IBIP believes that fundamental to election integrity is the inscribing of all votes (whether by hand or by machine) on durable paper ballots which are easily handled and verified by the individual voter. The voter’s paper ballot should be the only official ballot for purposes of casting, tallying, counting, audit and recount.
The Mission of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is to inform and educate the public, media and government officials about important election integrity issues and to promote the adoption of legislation and policies designed to secure the democratic process.
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Kudos to the DuPage chapter of the IBIP for their ‘we are the media’ approach to combating corruption. It will be interesting to see if the Daily Herald runs with this story. Again, great effort folks!
BRAD ON AAR NOW
Here is a copy of the e mail I recieved after contacting the DNC about 6 weeks or so ago. It’s great news about our opportunity to use paper ballots. Please read
Lisa,
Thank you for contacting us with your concerns. The Democratic Party’s effort’s is aimed at ensuring a fair election process this November and beyond. This is a huge issue, because it’s not about the future of the Democratic Party, but the future of a Democracy that has been the greatest Democracy for 200 years. Our party is committed to guaranteeing our nation’s most fundamental right – the right to vote. The DNC is committed to making the voting process accessible to all eligible voters and fighting any and all efforts to suppress the vote. We have announced our expanded national voter protection program.
Our national election protection efforts are being coordinated by the DNC Voting Rights Institute and the National Lawyers Council, which has hired Election Protection Coordinators in some states and recruited thousands of volunteer’s lawyers and volunteer activists who will provide assistance to Election Protection programs across the country.
Across America, voters have confronted an astounding array of Republican led challenges to their right to vote. These include discriminatory voter ID laws at the state and now federal level, irresponsible voter registration rules, a criminal phone jamming scheme in New Hampshire, and discrepancies in Election Day practices that disproportionately affect rural, elderly, low-income, minority, and student voters.
This fall the DNC will be working hard not only to get out the vote, but to ensure that every vote is counted. In addition to the establishment of a national voter protection hotline, the DNC is implementing a comprehensive series of efforts aimed at helping Americans register to vote, learn how and where to cast their ballot, and provide assistance to overcoming Republican-led efforts to suppress voter turnout for the November elections.
The DNC’s new national hotline, 1-888-DEM-VOTE, will provide critical assistance to voters all across the country by providing poll location information, assistance in applying for absentee ballots, and help reporting voting problems before, during, and after Election Day. The DNC’s voter protection strategy also includes providing election protection staff, recruiting legal assistance all across the country, advancing legislation for verified voting, and filing litigation to block legislation that disenfranchises voters.
The “Confidence in Voting Act of 2006” would also reimburse States at the rate of 75 cents per printed ballot for offering voters, upon their request, the right to cast a vote by means of a contingency paper ballots, regardless of the voting equipment otherwise in use at the precinct. It would also mandate that the voter’s right to cast his or her vote by means of such a contingency paper ballot be conspicuously posted at polling places. All jurisdictions treat contingency paper ballots as regular ballots, and count them accordingly and not as provisional ballots (unless a voter is otherwise required to vote provisionally); and authorize such sums as are necessary to reimburse the States under the program.
For more in-depth reading go to this link – http://www.dnc.org/a/2006/09/support_the_con.php
For more excerpts go to this link – http://www.dnc.org/a/2006/09/de...ts_fight_3.php
Every citizen deserves the right to vote and have that vote counted.
Cheryl,
Constituency Services
First Name: XXXX
Last Name: XXXXX
Clearly there won’t be emergency paper balots at every polling station in the ountry, but we must urge everyone we know to use them if they are available where they vote. This could amount to a de facto exit poll on the question of whether the people want paper ballots or are content to cast their fates to the winds and the whims of the electronic monstrosities. Get the word out now! If paper ballots are available, USE THEM!