Trust, Antitrust and Your Vote

[groovedaddy]

The nation’s largest voting machine manufacturer, Election Systems & Software, announced last month that it was buying the United States voting machine division of Diebold, its main competitor. The sale could mean that nearly 70 percent of the nation’s voting precincts would be served by a single corporation. That raises serious antitrust questions and serious concerns about the vulnerability of future elections.

The new company would have enormous reach. Without meaningful competition, localities would have fewer choices when they bought voting machines. If something were to go wrong — an inadvertent failure in hardware or software or intentional tampering by a bad actor — it could have a disastrous effect on the entire nation’s vote.

After the deal was announced, voting-rights groups expressed concern. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. calling for antitrust regulators to scrutinize the purchase. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee, of which Mr. Schumer is chairman, is conducting a review of the proposed sale and intends to forward it to the Justice Department.

Hart InterCivic, whose voting machines are in use in about 9 percent of the nation’s precincts, has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware challenging the sale, arguing that the deal could harm the company’s ability to retain customers and attract new ones. The court has scheduled a hearing for December to consider the company’s request for an injunction that could block the sale.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opinion/29thu3.html?th&emc=th

[Angry Dragon]

1. Good post......rec

[Bill Bored]

2. My Hart Bleeds

So what's the point? That concealed electronic vote counting is OK as long as we spread the business around?