Has this been posted before? Diebold may leave e-voting business

[CatWoman]

Diebold, the makers of touch-screen e-voting machines at the center of a fairly large number of voting problems and controversies in the US, may be considering getting out of the e-voting business. According to the company's recent annual report filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Diebold—which also makes safes and ATM machines for banks—is concerned about its e-voting subsidiary tarnishing the company's 150-year reputation. Diebold acquired its e-voting business in 2002 when it bought Global Election Systems.

"This is a company that has built relationships with banks every day of every year. It pains them greatly to see their brand tarnished by a marginal operating unit," investment analyst Gil Luria told the Associated Press. The company blamed part of its e-voting problems on changes in emerging elections technology as well as inconsistencies between state and federal governments for e-voting requirements. They also acknowledged that recent complaints about its e-voting machines have hurt the company's relationship with government officials.

Considering that Diebold's ATM division accounts for 63 percent of the company's profit, Diebold needs to evaluate whether the negative publicity surrounding its e-voting machines is hurting the bulk of its business. If banks begin to doubt Diebold's commitment to reliability and security as a result of the voting machine controversies, then the business could take a revenue hit over the years from lost business. Luria believes that Diebold will decide to divest, saying that the probability of Diebold's holding on to it is "very low."

Diebold's poor e-voting reputation can't just be attributed to the poor performance of its hardware, however. Some of its executives have been accused of outright lying to government officials, leading to the company being investigated for criminal activity and the decertification of some machines in the state of California. Diebold was eventually sued by California's Attorney General for fraud. Instead of acknowledging the problems, Diebold appeared to stonewall at every opportunity, which contributed to the widespread distrust of the company.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070305-diebold-may-leave-e-voting-business.html

[Donnachaidh]

1. Do the damage -- spin off the weapon used to do it.

Halliburton spun off KBR. Same MO.

[tjwash]

2. I hope so. Their ATM machines suck big time as well.

B of A out here has "upgraded" all their ATM machines to the newest Diebold models, and they are always broken. I can't imagine that their voting machines are any better.

[Demeter]

3. I'm Laughing At Your Report--Because Crying Wrecks My Sinuses

It figures that everything they make is crap. Technology companies are like that--either very good or very bad with good connections.

[tjwash]

4. Diebold--the early years