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NJ Federal Court Hearing on ESS-Premier Merger
Tue, 09/29/2009 - 10:00am
Judge to Consider Blocking Merger of Two Voting Machine Makers
A New Jersey federal judge will hold a hearing today to decide whether to block the merger of the nation's two largest vote counting companies.Jonathan Rubin, a Washington-based Patton Boggs partner who represents Hart InterCivic Inc., a smaller voting-machine maker, has asked Judge Robert Kugler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to issue a temporary restraining order, alleging that the merger of the voting division of Ohio-based Diebold and Election Systems & Software poses a "threat of irreparable harm" to voters.
The combination of the two voting-machine giants would give ES&S control of election systems used in nearly 70 percent of the country's voting precincts.
More: http://electiondefensealliance.org/Federal-court-hearing-ESS-Premier-merger
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Who Knows What Really Happened in MA Senate Election?
Source: E-mail communication from Bev Harris at Blackboxvoting.org Jan. 20, 2010
EDA is reproducing this content as a public service, with full credit to Bev Harris and Blackboxvoting.
Hand-counts Favored Coakley
By Bev Harris
This article is about our right to know, not about Martha Coakley or Scott Brown. And lest you think something here favors a Democrat, just you wait, I'm still working on anomalies in the NY-23 election that are just plain hard to 'splain. As Richard Hayes Phillips says when people tell him to forget it, "I'm a historian, I've got all the time in the world." NY-23 still has history to be written. My public records are starting to arrive. But that's another story.
Back to Massachusetts, I think you have a right to know that Coakley won the hand counts there.
You can discuss this here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/80830.html
That's right.
According to preliminary media results by municipality, Democrat Martha Coakley won Massachusetts overall in its hand counted locations,* with 51.12% of the vote (32,247 hand counted votes) to Brown's 30,136, which garnered him 47.77% of hand counted votes. Margin: 3.35% lead for Coakley.
Massachusetts has 71 hand count locations, 91 ES&S locations, and 187 Diebold locations, with two I call the mystery municipalities (Northbridge and Milton) apparently using optical scanners, not sure what kind.
Of course, as Mark Twain used to say, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics. These statistics don't prove anything, and probably shouldn't be discussed without a grain of salt handy before examining more detailed demographics.
EDA is reproducing this content as a public service, with full credit to Bev Harris and Blackboxvoting.
Hand-counts Favored Coakley
Hand-counted Results Generally Arrived Faster Than Machine Counts
Machine Counts Favoring Coakley Arrived Late -- After Concession
Sole-source E-voting Contractor, LHS Associates
. . . and No Exit Polls to Check Any of It
__________________________________________________By Bev Harris
This article is about our right to know, not about Martha Coakley or Scott Brown. And lest you think something here favors a Democrat, just you wait, I'm still working on anomalies in the NY-23 election that are just plain hard to 'splain. As Richard Hayes Phillips says when people tell him to forget it, "I'm a historian, I've got all the time in the world." NY-23 still has history to be written. My public records are starting to arrive. But that's another story.
Back to Massachusetts, I think you have a right to know that Coakley won the hand counts there.
You can discuss this here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/80830.html
That's right.
According to preliminary media results by municipality, Democrat Martha Coakley won Massachusetts overall in its hand counted locations,* with 51.12% of the vote (32,247 hand counted votes) to Brown's 30,136, which garnered him 47.77% of hand counted votes. Margin: 3.35% lead for Coakley.
Massachusetts has 71 hand count locations, 91 ES&S locations, and 187 Diebold locations, with two I call the mystery municipalities (Northbridge and Milton) apparently using optical scanners, not sure what kind.
ES&S Results
The greatest margin between the candidates was with ES&S machines -- 53.64% for Brown, 45.31% for Coakley, a margin for Brown of 8.33%. It looks like ES&S counted a total of 620,388 votes, with 332,812 going to Brown and 281,118 going to Coakley. Taken overall, the difference -- 8.33% Brown (ES&S) added to 3.35% Coakley (hand count) shows an 11.68% difference between the ES&S and the hand counts.Of course, as Mark Twain used to say, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics. These statistics don't prove anything, and probably shouldn't be discussed without a grain of salt handy before examining more detailed demographics.
E-Vendors Dominate "Future of California Voting" Hearing
Source: Capital Public Radio, KXJZ Sacramento, CA
2/9/2010 on Morning Edition
California's Electronic Voting Booths Need An Upgrade But It Won't Be Cheap
Aired 2/8/2010 on All Things Considered Aired2/9/2010 on Morning Edition
Sacramento, CA -- California elections officials say their computerized voting booths are in need of upgrades, but they can’t afford to make big improvements. Capital Public Radio's Steve Shadley reports: Listen
Two statewide elections are coming up later this year but local elections officials say they’re working with outdated electronic voting booths.
Private companies that sell the equipment say the state and counties would be better off buying new systems rather than trying to modernize the old equipment.
That would require millions of dollars that governments don’t have right now.
At a public hearing on the issue in Sacramento, some citizens urged the officials to get rid of electronic voting, period.
Photo: Steve Shadley, Capital Public Radio
Tom Courbat is with the Riverside County group Save Our Vote:
Courbat:
“We’re not convinced there is enough security in these voting systems to justify continuing to purchase them. We have seen demonstrations over and over again of machines being hacked...”
Courbat says it would be more secure if voters cast paper ballots that would be counted by hand.
But advocates for the disabled say not everyone can fill out a paper ballot.
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Florida Attorney General Investigating ES&S-Premier Merger
Source: Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1385770.html
Miami Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau, Dec. 16, 2009
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is conducting an anti-trust investigation of a voting-machine company merger that would create a near-monopoly over the levers of democracy in Florida and much of the United
States.
McCollum's office has issued at least six subpoenas covering every major voting-machine company as part of a civil investigation of Election Systems & Software's $5 million acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s elections division -- a merger that would give a private company too much power over the machines used to castvotes, voting-rights groups say.
"Our office engaged in this issue because anti-competitive behavior can seriously harm consumers," McCollum said in a written statement. "Competitive behavior encourages the best products be available to consumers, including technology, particularly in a market as sensitive as the voting systems market."
More broadly, ES&S's purchase of the competitor company gives it control of the voting machines in nearly 70 percent of the nation's precincts, according to a federal lawsuit in Delaware filed by a rival company, Hart Intercivic. The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own inquiry.
McCollum's investigation came to light Wednesday after eight voting rights groups sent him a letter urging him to open an inquiry -- unaware that his office had already opened its investigation Sept. 10. The first subpoena was sent out Oct. 2.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1385770.html
Voting-Machine Firm Merger Investigated
Florida's attorney general is investigating a voting-machine company merger that has voting-rights groups worried that the move will concentrate too much power over democracy in one private company.
BY MARC CAPUTOMiami Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau, Dec. 16, 2009
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is conducting an anti-trust investigation of a voting-machine company merger that would create a near-monopoly over the levers of democracy in Florida and much of the United
States.
McCollum's office has issued at least six subpoenas covering every major voting-machine company as part of a civil investigation of Election Systems & Software's $5 million acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s elections division -- a merger that would give a private company too much power over the machines used to castvotes, voting-rights groups say.
Similar Stories:Miami Herald, 12.16.09:•Voting machine monopoly seen in Florida Miami Herald Op Ed, 12.17.09: •Guard against voting-machine monopoly |
Under the state's 1980 anti-trust law, McCollum could persuade a court to levy fines against ES&S or prevent the company from operating in Florida. By next year, the company is expected to be the exclusive provider of voting machines and services in 65 of the 67 counties in Florida, the nation's most important swing state.
That means, under the acquisition announced Sept. 2, ES&S will provide election services to 92 percent of Florida's 11.2 million voters.More broadly, ES&S's purchase of the competitor company gives it control of the voting machines in nearly 70 percent of the nation's precincts, according to a federal lawsuit in Delaware filed by a rival company, Hart Intercivic. The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own inquiry.
McCollum's investigation came to light Wednesday after eight voting rights groups sent him a letter urging him to open an inquiry -- unaware that his office had already opened its investigation Sept. 10. The first subpoena was sent out Oct. 2.
ES&S Buys Premier (Diebold) Election Systems, for Near-Monopoly in U.S. Vote Count
Diebold Exits US Voting-Machine Business
By Veronica Dagher, Dow Jones Newswires, September 03, 2009Diebold Inc. (DBD) has sold its money-losing U.S. election-systems business, just seven years after acquiring it amid hopes of rising demand for voting technology upgrades in the wake of the 2000 presidential election fiasco.
Diebold, whose main business is making automated teller machines, said Thursday it sold the voting-machine unit to privately held Election Systems & Software Inc. for $5 million, about one-fifth of what it paid in 2002.
"There were assumptions we made in that space that didn't materialize," Diebold spokesman Mike Jacobsen said, referring to the fact U.S. municipalities didn't adopt standardized voting systems.
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'Diebold has agreed to sell its elections systems business
for $5 million in cash plus future cash payments
representing 70% of any cash collected on the outstanding U.S. election systems business accounts . . .
As a result of this transaction, Diebold expects to recognize a pre-tax loss in the range of $45 million to $55 million'
--from Diebold Press Release, 09.03.09
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Problems with paper ballots in the presidential election in 2000, which delayed the final tally and generated concerns about the legitimacy of the outcome, sparked calls for improved election systems. A federal law was passed in 2002 to provide states $2.32 billion to make required voting-technology upgrades, and industry watchers had expected standardization to follow.
Standardization - in which all voting districts would use machines built to the same specifications - would have cut down on costs of customization, but guidelines were never finalized.
Diebold, which was the industry's biggest maker of electronic voting machines heading into the 2004 presidential election, was in the spotlight as concerns increased about the reliability and security of the electronic systems.
