Look how desperate Diebold was to get Ohio contract...

[VTGold]

http://foi.missouri.edu/evolvingissues/wincontract.html
---------------------------

Columbus - In the cutthroat battle over Ohio's election-machine upgrade, Ohio-based Diebold Inc. upped the ante on its competitors last week by playing the hometown card.

Diebold - under fire nationally for purported security flaws in its touch-screen voting system - offered to consider building all its voting machines for Ohio in-state if it wins a statewide contract, a company spokesman confirmed.

The offer came during a round of negotiations in which two of five finalist firms apparently were eliminated, leaving just three: Diebold, Election Systems & Software and Hart Intercivic. The final three are scheduled to meet with state negotiators one last time tomorrow, in preparation for the ultimate vendor list being released to counties Friday.

Diebold's proposal was significant because none of its rivals in the war over rights to sell voting machines in Ohio can match such an offer. Not one has a production facility, as Diebold does, in Ohio.

[gapower]

1. When the CEO pedges

to deliver a state to one party or another, the company should be disqualified for 15 years, no questions asked.

[sepia_steel]

2. Seconded

this bastard belongs in prison.

[BushSpeak]

3. The Diebold Ohio e-voting scam

There was a file on Diebold's Ohio bid on Black Box Voting, that has disappeared since the site was hacked.

I'll probably miss some specifics, but I'll try to give you the general idea from memory.

There were around 26 Ohio counties that were supposed to be equipped with Diebold machines for this election. When California de-certified Diebold machines, the counties were given the option of not respecting the contract by the state election board. Only 5 chose to continue with Diebold.

Then an Association for the Blind filed a complaint against the remaining counties, maintaining that these counties discriminated against the blind by not providing machines favoring the handicapped. Under pressure, these counties were resigned to accepting the Diebold contract.

Then an article came out in the New York Times stating that this was not the first time that Diebold was linked to this Association for the Blind. This association had attacked a New York drug store over a Diebold ATM machine on the premises. To settle the claim Diebold installed a blind friendly ATM on the site, but also built a $1 million research center for the Blind Association.

Then the real scam began. The Association for the Blind filed numerous complaints and Diebold came to the rescue proposing to install blind friendly ATM's.

The day after the article came out, the Association for the Blind withdrew it's complaint and Ohio was saved from Diebold for at least another four years.

[Lady Sonelle]

4. That's the National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

and yes, they are on the right wing payroll!

Lady Sonelle
(former NFB member)