CURRENT DIEBOLD PROBLEM: When will these unreviewable, problematic voting machines tilt elections?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Defense Contractor Seeks to Buy Diebold
By Kim Zetter March 05, 2008 | 2:22:49 PM

Yahoo isn't the only target of an unwelcome takeover. Diebold Inc., maker of automated teller machines, security systems and voting machines, was the recent target of an unsolicited $2.63 billion takeover offer from United Technologies Corporation, a leading aerospace defense contractor, whose divisions also include Otis elevators.

The offer, which Diebold disclosed this weekend, amounted to $40 per Diebold share at a time when Diebold stock was trading at around $24 a share -- or at least it was before news of the takeover was made public. The price has since risen to about $37 a share.

Diebold rejected the offer, but this doesn't mean the deal won't eventually go through, judging by the chairman of the board's statement that UTC was offering too little.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/defense-contrac.html

At what point does some company with a vested interest in election outcomes offer enough money to control these widely-used, recordless voting machines?

THE NEW YORK TIMES
A New Role for Defense Contractors?: Counting Votes
March 3, 2008, 4:20 pm

There has long been good reason to worry about Diebold voting machines. Many are “black box” electronic machines that do not produce paper records, so voters have to accept the results they report on faith.

Diebold, however, has not inspired much faith. It has been accused of illegally using uncertified software on its voting machines, exposing elections to possible tampering, and of making glitchy machines that mis-record votes.

Then there is the little matter of the company’s CEO signing a letter before the 2004 election — in which his machines would be counting many of the votes — saying that he was committed to helping deliver Ohio to President Bush.
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/a-new-role-for-defense-contractors-counting-votes/

NEW YORK TIMES
Diebold Receives a Takeover Offer
by MICHAEL J. de la MERCED
Published: March 3, 2008
The United Technologies Corporation made public on Sunday an unsolicited $3 billion bid for Diebold, one of the largest makers of automated teller machines and voting machines.

United Technologies, which first approached Diebold two years ago, initially made the offer in private on Friday. The bid amounts to $40 a share in cash, or a 66 percent premium over Diebold’s closing price on Friday of $24.12, United Technologies said.

Several unsolicited or hostile offers have been made this year despite an overall slowdown in deal-making activity. Among companies making unfriendly advances are Microsoft, which is pursuing the wounded Internet giant Yahoo, and Electronic Arts, which made a bid for Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the Grand Theft Auto video games.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03deal.html?_r=2&hp&oref=login&oref=slogin

The Onion has a hilarious video on Youtube. In the popular video a mock news report about Diebold accidentally releases results of the 2008 presidential election before the voting occurs.

View the video here.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LBrDzZCOQtI&feature=user

A Few of the Past Problems with DIEBOLD:
March 2004: California. 55% of precincts in San Diego county experienced malfunctions due to battery problems that prevented polling places from opening on time. Voters were told to return later in the day but it is unknown how many were able to do so.

March 2004: Maryland. At least one voter using Diebold election equipment was not presented with the entire ballot. Poll workers indicated that they knew of such errors when the ballot magnification feature was activated.

November 2003: Georgia. Allegations of widespread complaints by citizens who voted "NO" on a sales tax proposition but saw Diebold machines register "YES" caused county officials to take the machine out of service during the election.

April 2002: Kansas. In Johnson County, an unexplained software error caused voting machines to miscount votes. Some modems used to transmit results from polling places to the central election office failed. After this latter incident, cartridges that record results are hand-delivered to the office. Also, results were misreported in six races. The system miscounted hundreds of votes, and a re-count was ordered.

November 2002: Maryland. When voters voted for the Republican candidate for governor, an "X" appeared beside the name of the Democratic candidate.
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5163

[Peace Teacher]

1. I find security in a paper trail; especially when it comes to counting votes.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. the thing that worries me the most is who will be counting the votes

[Peace Teacher]

2. this issue is too important to let this article vanish.

:kick:

[blues90]

4. I guess you should have used a different title for this

Something like Britney stole a watch or a candidate bashing post . No one seems to care how votes are counted , not even the candidates , they appear to hold a lot of faith in this corrupt system .

[defendandprotect]

5. Been going on since mid-1960's .. . when will it end????

[InsultComicDog]

6. If someone like Soros tried to take over Diebold

the Pubs would be all over it quicker than Mark Foley on a page

[defendandprotect]

7. Maybe that would be a good "shoe on the other foot" idea . . . !!!

Meanwhile, if you're not familiar with the computers having come in during the 1960's . . .
please see Votescam --

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm

Jim & Ken Collier were two journalists who wanted to do a story on the elections and decided that one of them should run for office in their state of Florida. On Election night they saw their totals rise and then fall back after a computer breakdown. They began looking into it and came to understand the corruption behind the use of computers. They wrote a book which was immediately suppressed but you can read or scan it at the website their family keeps going to try to inform the public.

[countryjake]

8. Kick!