Allegheny County PA (Pittsburgh) passes motion AGAINST DIEBOLD!

[demodonkey]

This happened last Tuesday at the County Council meeting.... Unfortunately, this afternoon their three person Election Board voted 2-1 to buy the Sequoia Advantage instead. :-(

Thanks to to the lone Republican board member Dave Fawcett for being the lone hold out for optical scan, and thank you to the brave citizens of Allegheny County for putting up a great fight through five (5!) Board of Elections meetings to get an auditable, recountable system with a voter verified paper ballot. Unfortunately that was not to be today, but the Allegheny election integrity patriots did a lot of educating and laid the groundwork for passage of SB977 / HB2000 and the audits and observation that will be needed as these machines fail (and they will) so eventually we WILL get open, transparent elections!

http://legistar.county.allegheny.pa.us/detailreport/?key=3096


Allegheny County Council
Legislative File Number 2428-06 (version 1)

Motion expressing the sense of Council of Allegheny County and urging the Board of Elections not to
consider electronic voting systems manufactured by Diebold, Inc. as viable alternatives for Allegheny
County's move to a HAVA-compliant voting system.

WHEREAS, the Help America Vote act requires the replacement of Allegheny County's lever
voting machines in time for the May 2006 Primary Election; and

WHEREAS, Allegheny County has been advised by the Department of Administrative Services
to acquire approximately 5,600 Diebold TSX voting machines, and the Board of Elections, which is
vested with authority over purchasing new voting machines under the Pennsylvania Election Code at 25
P.S. §2642(c), is currently considering this purchase; and

WHEREAS, the voters of Allegheny County who have commented upon the acquisition of
Diebold machines have overwhelmingly voiced their distrust of both the manufacturer and its product;
and

WHEREAS, comments made by the voters have highlighted a promise made by the then Chief
Executive Officer of Diebold, Walden O'Dell, that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to" one party's candidate in the 2004 general election, as evidence of Diebold's partiality;
and

WHEREAS, these comments have also highlighted Mr. O'Dell's federally designated status as a
fundraising Pioneer, a designation that is only made when an individual has raised at least $100,000 for
the campaign activities of a specific party, as indicative of Diebold's established and longstanding
partisan political activities; and

WHEREAS, comments have also centered upon the decertification of Diebold's TSX machines
in California in 2004, which was occasioned in part by allegations that Diebold installed uncertified
software on its machines on the eve of California's March 2004 primary, an action which could
constitute a violation of both federal and California election law; and

WHEREAS, in the course of the California decertification hearings, Marc Carrel, the then
Assistant Secretary of State for Policy and Planning, stated that he was "disgusted by the actions of this
company, and I think we should forward our recommendations to the Attorney General, because I can't
believe that a lot of the statements made...were accurate;" and

WHEREAS, Mark Kyle, the chair of the panel conducting the California decertification
hearings, characterized Diebold's testimony before the panel as "ludicrous and offensive," and noted that
"here's contradictory testimony here, folks, and it sounds like someone's not being truthful. Quite
frankly, the panel is sick of it;" and

WHEREAS, the State of California ultimately filed suit against Diebold, with the company
finally agreeing to pay a $2.6 million settlement; and

WHEREAS, Rob Behler, an engineer hired to prepare Diebold's electronic voting machines for
the 2002 gubernatorial election in Georgia, has also alleged that Diebold installed uncertified software on
its machines in violation of federal and Georgia election law; and

WHEREAS, in 2005, Diebold refused to sell its voting machines in North Carolina, because
state officials insisted upon being given detailed information about all software used in electronic voting
machines, a step which Diebold is unwilling or unable to take, even though this decision is directly
contrary to the concept of free access to source code that computer scientists have uniformly insisted in
their comments to the Board of Elections is essential to verifiable elections;

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, AND IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, that the legitimacy and validity of any election are only as strong as the
voters' confidence that their ballots were correctly and impartially tabulated, and that any erosion of this
confidence, whether due to real or perceived factors, runs directly contrary to the core values of equal
and unfettered exercise of the fundamental right to vote. Because of the number of comments that have
been expressed both to the Board of Elections and to Council by the voters of Allegheny County against
acquiring Diebold voting systems, because of the significance of the voters' allegations of Diebold's
partiality, untruthfulness, and willingness to circumvent both state and federal election laws, and because
of Diebold's refusal to permit free access to its source code, Council finds that it is impossible to
conclude that the voters of Allegheny County currently have or will ever have the necessary confidence
in any election conducted using a Diebold voting system. Council accordingly urges the Board of
Elections to follow the clearly and consistently expressed will of the voters of Allegheny County and not
consider the purchase of any voting system manufactured by Diebold.

[spag68]

1. diebold

I guess not too many peopoe who are from or are interested in pittsburgh participate here. I will make this comment, it's about time people got interested in this company. If we can get rid of them , we can work on sending rupert murdock back to australia

[EFerrari]

3. Welcome to DU, spag68. I assure you, we're all very interested

in Diebold. :evilgrin:

[I Have A Dream]

5. Hi, spag68. By "here", do you mean in the Election Reform forum?

There are lots of Pittsburgh people on DU itself. I can't speak in reference to the Election Reform forum itself.

Welcome! :hi:

[drm604]

6. I'm from the Philly area,

but I'm very interested in the entire state.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Cross-post a link to the Pennsylvania forum.

former Pgher myself. I was glad to realize (in my first vote there, in '92) Pgh is a very blue spot in a purple state.

[EFerrari]

2. Well, this will help us out here! And, Sequoia is just the next step.

:toast:

[Bushfire]

4. Cheesehead K & R n/t

[HootieMcBoob]

8. They still have to pass state certification test next month

according to today's Post Gazette http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06059/662222.stm
So, there's a slim chance that they won't be purchased. They sound like they're pissed that they have to replace the machines they have. This will be interesting. Allegheny County traditionally leans toward Democratic Candidates. If that changes, particularly given "man on dog" Santorum's unpopularity in the county - then we're really and truly screwed.

[Wilms]

9. Do you know if the AVC Advantage has Federal certification?

And if the the VVPAT has Federal certification?

And if they'll consider using the VVPAT?

Thanks.