Critics: Convicted felons worked for electronic voting companies

[joeunderdog]

SAN FRANCISCO - A manufacturer of electronic voting machines has employed at least five convicted felons as managers, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.

Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold Inc., one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions, and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.

snip

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., announced a bill last week that would require stringent background checks on all electronic voting company employees who work with voting software. The bill, which the California Democrat plans to introduce in January, would toughen security standards for voting software and hardware, and require touch-screen terminals to include printers and produce paper backups of vote counts by the 2004 presidential election in November.

Harris and Andy Stephenson, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state in Washington, conducted a 10-day investigation in Seattle and Vancouver, where the men were convicted. Harris and Stephenson released the findings in a 17-page document online and at a news conference in Seattle.

more...
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7507193.htm

[frank frankly]

1. wow that is awesome

but felons aren't allowed to vote, I thought...

[stinkeefresh]

2. but apparantly they are allowed to change YOUR vote

[alfredo]

5. LOL, ow wait, that's not funny! N/T

[nannygoat]

3. I think they are allowed to vote in certain states

Florida, for example.

This is awesome news! Great work, Bev and Andy! Can you imagine the blackmail potential there was with these folks?

[TrogL]

4. No they're not

disenfranchsed "felons" (who weren't) was a huge issue in the Florida 2000 election