ES&S Settles $3.25 Million CA Lawsuit for Uncertified Machine Sales

Source: Capitol Alert report, Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/020851.html

Bowen Settles Voting Machine Lawsuit

by Andrew McIntosh, Capitol Alert, March 19, 2009

Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today the state will get $3.25 million after she settled her department's lawsuit against Election Systems & Software Inc., the electronic voting machine manufacturer.

After paying for attorneys' fees, the remaining $2.93 million the state will get from Election Systems & Software will be used to improve and strengthen the integrity of California's electoral system, Bowen said.

"Californians have the right to know the systems they use for voting have met the legal standards for security, accuracy, reliability, and accessibility," Bowen said in a statement announcing the settlement.

Bowen filed a lawsuit against the voting machine manufacturer in November 2007, amid allegations that the company had sold 972 AutoMARK Model A200 ballot-marking machines to several counties that contained hardware changes that had were not authorized by the Secretary of State, as required by law.

Five California counties bought the modified Model A200 machines believing they were buying voting equipment exactly like the AutoMARK Model A100 machines the Secretary of State had actually tested and approved. The counties included: San Francisco (558 machines), Solano (160), Marin (130), Merced (104), and Colusa (20).