Please post evidence of influence-purchasing efforts of voting machine companies

[Fly by night]

Here in the Orange State, we have just established an ethics commission to oversee the actions of our state government. (Perhaprs the indictments and convictions of a handful of sitting legislators had something to do with this.) Our election reform group, Gathering To Save Our Democracy, would like to meet with this commission to discuss how improper influence has continually been brought to bear to get our State Election Coordinator, Brook Thompson, to push DREs down our throats. We know that Brook is on the Board of Directors of The Election Center (the only state election official on that Board) and we know a lot about TEC's funding base, etc. We also know that Brook has attended every national meeting of state election officials, at which the voting machine companies lavish their affections on officials with open bars, free meals, cruises in the Pacific and Potomac, etc.

What I am looking for in this thread is more detailed evidence of the quantity and variety of "freebies" that voting machine companies have given to election officials at these national meetings and elsewhere. You can post information from state-level experiences in your own state, or from other national meetings of relevant public officials (e.g., national meetings of secretaries of state). Any influence-peddling you are aware of would help us build our case here in Tennessee for our ethics commission.

Thanks for sharing (your information).

[Botany]

1. This should help

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0406-27.htm

Diebold gave the head of the Franklin County, OH (Columbus) BOE
a $10,000 bribe

[nicknameless]

2. Here's one. An Election-Center-related thread from June 2005:

Election officials were not only wined and dined, some of them, like Conny McCormack, were scheduled to speak at the *gala*

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=380340&mesg_id=380340

There was another "conference" last year as well.

[Fly by night]

3. Great, guys, this is just what I'm looking for. Please keep it coming.

I have to leave the computer for a while to finish building a greenhouse in the cold morning here in middle Tennessee. I hope lots of ERDUers can help us with this issue. Thanks kindly.

[Kurovski]

4. Sarasota County intrigue...

http://www.madcowprod.com/11152006.html

"NOV 15 2006

Gary L.Greenhalgh, the election company executive responsible for the touch-screen electronic voting machines in Sarasota County which failed to register fully one of every seven votes cast in last week’s hotly-contested race to replace Rep. Katherine Harris, has a checkered past, the MadCowMorningNews has learned exclusively, including involvement in election bribery scandals.

The most recent rocked voters in North Carolina in 1999, and resulted in the supervisor of elections in North Carolina's Mecklenburg County being sent to federal prison for taking over $130,000 in payoffs from MicroVote, the election company where Greenhalgh was national sales director."

[Kurovski]

5. About North Carolina...

http://www.ncvoter.net/briberyNC.html

"Conviction and Prison time for that Official - Bill Culp.

Guilty Plea to Bribery charges for the Microvote Salesman - Ed O'Day.

Salesman still selling voting machines today, and is Vice President of United American Election Supply."

[Kurovski]

6. Sequoia Pacific...

http://www.libertylobby.org/articles/2001/20010105election_exec.html

"Sequoia Pacific was named as the company behind the scheme to successfully bribe the commissioner of elections of the state of Louisiana," Hopsicker said. "In court last week in Baton Rouge, the firm's Louisiana representative pled guilty to passing out as much as $10 million dollars in bribes over the course of almost an entire decade."

[Kurovski]

7. An article on "donations" from three different companies...

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=51

"On the Voting Machine Makers' Tab - As doubts have grown about the reliability of electronic voting, some of its loudest defenders have been state and local election officials. Many of those same officials have financial ties to voting machine companies. While they may sincerely think that electronic voting machines are so trustworthy that there is no need for a paper record of votes, their views have to be regarded with suspicion until their conflicts are addressed."

[AtLiberty]

8. Here's a start...

FOIA for the line-item expenditures of Brook & Co. over recent years.

If you know what junkets he's attended, then look for the expenditures for that junket. You won't find any -- that's your proof. Or, you *might* find transportation costs only. That means that vendors and/or the Election Center picked up the rest of the tab. You could point out: Didn't Brook sleep and eat while he was in this city?

[Fly by night]

9. One kick for the evening crew -- thanks for the info so far

I have also contacted votersunite and votetrustusa. If I get more information from them, I will post it to this thread.

Thanks for your help, guys.

[rumpel]

10. This is not evidence but

I am sure you know of these "Affiliate" companies - whatever that is supposed to mean.
With their disclaimer:

Important Notice:

Corporate Affiliate membership does not constitute an endorsement by the National Association of Secretaries of State. Corporate Affiliate members shall not state or suggest either directly or indirectly that NASS endorses, authorizes or approves of any product or service offered by a Corporate Affiliate. :eyes:

National Association of Secretaries of State
http://www.nass.org/corpaffiliates/directory.html

and the next meeting: This is Exhibitors Registration Info
http://www.nass.org/conference/2007%20Winter%20Conference/conf_main_2007.htm#exhibiting

and

The National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks

We encourage our members and others to visit the sponsors web sites, by clicking on the ads, that advertise on this page.
http://nacrc.org/sponsors/corp_sponsors.htm

[BushSpeak]

11. Great idea for a post.

I can use the info as well.

I'm in France and preparing a conference against e-voting machines that are coming here.

I'm resorting everything on my computer, so it will take a while to find the links, but here are some ideas if others can provide the links. Or I can fish them out in a couple of days.


I read that top ES&S officials were implicated in a bribe case with Arkansas election officials, but they escaped prosecution by turning state's witness.

Global elections systems was bought by Diebold in 2001(2) and was the basis for their election venture. Their board contained several ex-cons including Watergate felons and Jeffery Dean.

If you don't know Jeffery Dean do a web search. Convicted of embezzlement in the early 90's in Seattle and did 3 years for installing a back door system on his law office computer. Then printed ballots for Diebold. When he sold Global to Diebold, he was retained on the Board and became chief programmer on the GEMS system, known for having several parallel data bases with the election results being transfered from one to the other with whatever algorithm you wish. Election officials then only had access to the second one.

Bobby Kennedy's second Rolling Stone article talks about Diebold and Georgia 2002. They hired the former SOS as a lobby who succeeded in converting the whole state to DREs. Then Diebold's president came along with the famous hack Georgia patch and the elections flipped.

If you do the lobby route, check Florida 2001. ES&S hired the former SOS and ex-president of the Florida Association of Election Supervisors (not sure that he was the ex-president, but at least he had important connections) and he came through with big contracts. Bob Ney (HAVA 2002) had two collaborators (one was his cabinet director) resign to become Diebold lobbyists in DC. He then contributed ~$30,000 to Ney's campaign. (see Bradblog - Ney)

After the Hursti hack test, Ion Sancho wanted to have a new electronic voting system certified by the corresponding Florida Election Office. However there was no one in charge - the two top officials had quite to become Diebold lobbyists.



I always wanted to do a thread on election company officials that would have lost their voting rights under Jeb Bush's criteria, while selling machines under the guise of honest elections.

[emlev]

12. I think Alan Dechert of OVC went to the NASS convention in 2006. Ask him.

OVC = Open Voting Consortium
NASS = National Association of Secretaries of State

Nice to see you back, Fly. How's it shakin'?

[emlev]

13. Maybe Ellen Theisen of Vote-Pad went, too. eom

[Fly by night]

16. Still in the "house" but less than four months left

It has definitely been a learning experience, on personal, professional and political planes. I showed the film "Eternal Vigilance" ( www.eternalvigilance.us ) to the guards at the federal Bureau of Prisons halfway house and they were very impressed by the work that the voting rights community is doing and very fearful for the future of any country whose elections can be stolen so easily and in so many ways.

I do look forward to the day when I can sleep in a room only with people who I have invited to be there. I have been sending out a sporadic diary chronicling this "cheap spa experience" (to quote the former mayor of Providence, RI when he entered federal prison for the second time). I would be happy to add anyone (like you) to the diary mailing list who may be interested. Just PM me with your email address(es) and I'll add any of you to the gang of 400+ who are following my experiences in the belly of the beast. Thanks for asking.

[AtLiberty]

14. I'd ask...

Decent and honest election officials (there are a few) who attended these conferences. Ion Sanchez comes to mind...

Also, a good source would be a vendor featuring a lesser-known, respectable product, ie: Vote Pad or AutoMark. These companies wouldn't have the funds for serious influence peddling and are likely turned off by what the bigger companies can do to lure customers.

[truedelphi]

15. Wasn't Vote Pad the company that had a very reliable

System that also met the compliance code on what the disabled community needed - only the State of California laughed them right back to their pad, probably because Vote Pad hadn't bought any influence. (ie no lobbyists' fees went to the Republican party?)

[emlev]

17. That's the one. eom

[nicknameless]

18. While she was a State Senator, Debra Bowen authored SB 11,

which would have prevented voting machine companies from donating to candidates --INCLUDING ELECTION OFFICIALS.
Briefly:

http://www.ss.ca.gov/executive/bio.htm

Bowen’s SB 11 (2005), which would have prevented voting equipment manufacturers from making campaign contributions and precluded the Secretary of State from endorsing candidates was defeated in the Assembly.

There is more info you can research on the bill, if you wish, starting here:
http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_11&sess=PREV&house=B&site=sen
(The Senate Committee link, from 08/30/2006, doesn't appear to be working)

From the Assembly analysis:

SUMMARY : Prohibits the Secretary of State (SOS), or a
candidate for SOS, from supporting or opposing a candidate for
public office or from serving as an officer of a political party
or partisan organization. Prohibits manufacturers and vendors
of voting equipment from making campaign contributions to
candidates for elective state office, county supervisor, city
council member, mayor, or elections official. Specifically,
this bill :

1)Prohibits the SOS, or a candidate for SOS, from serving as an
officer of any political party or partisan organization.

2)Prohibits the SOS, or a candidate for SOS, from supporting or
opposing any candidate for public office.

3)Provides that the above prohibitions shall not be construed to
prohibit an individual from seeking election or reelection to
the office of the SOS, or to prohibit the SOS from seeking
election to any other public office.

4)Prohibits a manufacturer or vendor of voting equipment or
systems, or his or her agent, from making a contribution to a
candidate for elective state office, county supervisor, city
council member, mayor, or elections official and prohibits
such candidates from receiving such contributions.

Last year, I read that state election officials were opposing the bill, but I can't locate a link to that information now. I believe it was on the state website.