What do you know about LHS?

[garybeck]

LHS is located in Methuen, MA, and, we understand, is
charged with "pre-programming, pre-configuring, and maintaining" all Diebold and ES&S voting machines in 5 New England States.

[ArkDem]

1. The parking lot is full of black helicopters.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. I graduated from there in 1967

Oh, I thought you meant Lindbergh High School in St. Louis...

[garybeck]

3. very funny...

we're trying to save the country here. there is no room for humor.... :rofl:

[LightningFlash]

4. Tell me if its related to Hathaway Group...

Or tell me what those initials stand for, and I can get it back to you.

[Boredtodeath]

5. Diebold Distributor

2003-08-20
Patrick Golden
Daily News Tribune
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_polls08202003.htm

Poll workers check out system: New voting machines on display at City Clerk

WALTHAM -- Local poll workers got their first look yesterday at the city's new electronic voting system that will be put to the test for the first time during the Sept. 16 preliminary election for mayor.

The City Clerk's office held a mock election to get the workers accustomed to the Accu-Vote system and wean them off the cumbersome mechanical voting machines the city used for more than 50 years.

"Accu-Vote is a fast, accurate machine," said City Clerk Russ Malone.

So fast that Ken Hajjar, sales and marketing director for LHS Associates, the firm that sold the city the voting machines, said the election results should be ready before 9 p.m. -- just an hour after the polls close.

The city set aside $175,000 in its fiscal 2004 capital improvement budget to purchase 20 electronic voting machines and the peripheral equipment. The city is supposed to get $70,000 back through the Help America Vote Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law last year.

While the Accu-Vote system is billed as simple to use, the clerk's office will host two public training sessions prior to the Sept. 16 preliminary election. The Waltham Council of Neighborhood Advocates will participate in one at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 28 in City Hall. Another is planned on Sept. 11 at the Stanley Senior Center at 488 Main St.

The Accu-Vote system uses paper ballots. Voters receive the ballot and fill in the ovals that correspond to the candidates for whom they wish to vote. The ballot is fed into a small machine and stored in large, black bin below. All of the voting information is stored on a computer chip. The ballot can be placed inside a plastic sleeve before being fed into the machine in order to protect the voter's privacy. Magnifying sheets will also be available to help voters read the ballot.

The system can also handle write-in votes and absentee ballots.

Under the old voting system, voters had to check in before voting. The state requires that electronic voting method include a checkout.

The Sept. 16 preliminary election should work well for the city's maiden voyage with the system because only the mayor's race will be on the ballot. Voter turnout is expected to be strong because of the high-profile race.

Patrick Golden can be reached at 781-398-8009 or [e-mail].

[garybeck]

13. wha?

LHS sells the systems? that's nuts. out here in vermont, my SOS office says they just program the memory cards and they're completely separate from Diebold. what is going on?

[Boredtodeath]

6. Some more from David Allen

Representatives from Diebold, which sells both systems, told the council that Boston was better off with the optical scanners. John Silvestro, president of the company, said the optical scanning system reduces lines at polling places and helps preserve the integrity of elections by leaving a paper ''audit trail.'' He also said the touch-screen system would cost the city about six times as much money, and that companies like his are still working the kinks out of the touch-screen machines, a newer technology.

John Silvestro
LHS Associates President
Boston Globe, 8/2/03

CORRECTION: The Boston Globe originally identified this man as a Diebold president. He is a third-party distributor of Diebold equipment, but certainly in a position to know about Diebold's reliability.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40

[Amaryllis]

7. What's the acronym mean?

[tommcintyre]

9. LHS Associates was founded in 1972 as Lynn Haas Services, Inc.

a Data Processing Services Company serving municipal governments. Over the years, our service and sales have dramatically increased in the elections tabulation area, making us by far, the largest provider of automated election services in the Northeastern United States. We serve over 400 Municipalities. Our reputation has been earned based on our ability to provide timely and professional customer service and support. We are located at 13 branch St. in Methuen Massachusetts, adjacent to Interstate Route 93.

LHS Associates is the exclusive value-added reseller of the Accu-Vote product line in the New England area. We also provide the highest quality in Voting Booths and Election Supplies in the industry. No other election services company can match our unique advantage; we are local.

Our trained and experienced Customer Service Associates can assist you in all aspects of Election Services. Of course, we always strive to do better, and that's where you, our customer, can help. We would appreciate your suggestions and comments.

Where can we improve?

Which new services or products can we provide?

Please let us know!

Click here to send us your comments, or suggestions.

Thank you.

http://www.lhsassociates.com/COMPINFO.htm

[Bill Bored]

8. If this is true it is absurd

that ANYONE would outsource that much stuff to one company or for that matter, at all.

Who audits these configurations and how?

They should only be done by bi-partisan not for profit entities.
That way they could be undercut and driven out of business.

Let us know what you find out Gary.

[Boredtodeath]

10. The bigger question: Why do states NEED LHS?

This situation is being set up across the country.

Step 1: Elections officials buy electronic voting machines based on the sales pitch that they are easy to use, easy to set up and fast.

Step 2: After the checks are cut, the strategy changes. "Specialists" are required to set up elections and create the ballots. The questions we should be asking are:

Is this necessary because:
1. The system is too complicated to train elections officials to use it?
2. This system is too error prone and elections can be set up incorrectly using the system?
3. The system is too easy to manipulate and should be trusted only to those who can manipulate it a certain way?

Why do vendors remain so attached to the voting system after the sale?

on edit:
Let's keep in mind that the same situation has been set up in every state where electronic voting has been purchased. See The Georgia Method

[Peace Patriot]

11. Then, some of the money that we taxpayers pay them for these shoddy,

expensive, insecure, unreliable, fraud-prone voting machines, gets poured into the pockets of the lying, thieving, mass murdering Bush-Cheney political machine to sell us more lies, thievery and mass murder. Electronic voting is the worst scam ever perpetrated on the American people, bar none.

[Boredtodeath]

12. Not quite correct

None of these costs are part of the original purchase price. These costs are considered separate and apart from purchase.

In Georgia, the annual budget for the KSU Election Center is $1.5 Million from the budget of the Secretary of State (tax dollars).

So, no, these costs are NOT part of the purchase price. They are ongoing and perpetual. Add to THESE costs, the annual maintenance contracts of $1.6 Million in Georgia.

Had enough yet? Cause there's a whoooooooole bunch more.

Nice scam, huh?

[garybeck]

14. I'm trying to find out the relationship between LHS and Diebold

I've been told they are an independent contracting firm, who only program the memory cards on our diebold opscan systems.

then i've also been told that they are distributors of the diebold opscan systems and they sell the entire system.

i've also been told that one person who works at LHS has a business card that says LHS on it but identified himself as a Diebold employee.

what is going on here? is LHS just a front for Diebold? Are they one and the same?