Group Calls on Sharpton for Voting Flap

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Group Calls on Sharpton for Voting Flap

Les Smith Fox News Memphis Aug 18 2010
Just hours before the official certification of the August Primary and County Election results, Memphis may be receiving a visit from political activist Al Sharpton. Sharpton may bring national exposure to what his organization believes was the reason thousands of people might have been illegally turned away at the polls on August 5th.

The use of the controversial Diebold machines has received anything but a warm welcome since it was chosen as the main voting system in Memphis and Shelby County elections more than 4 years ago.

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Antitrust and Your Vote

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Antitrust and Your Vote

The New York Times Mar 10 2010

When the nation’s largest voting machine manufacturer, Election Systems and Software, acquired the voting machine business of Diebold, the nation’s second-largest manufacturer, it set off alarms for anyone who cares about election integrity. The combination meant that 70 percent of the nation’s voting machines would be provided by just one company.

The Justice Department has now announced that it intends to block certain parts of the deal on antitrust grounds. That is a very welcome step, but the department and Congress need to do more to protect the vote.
 

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The Voters Will Pay

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The Voters Will Pay

The New York Times Feb 25 2010

It was bad news for the voting public when Election Systems and Software, the nation’s largest voting machine company, announced last fall that it was acquiring the elections division of Diebold, the nation’s second-largest voting machine company.

The combination could mean that nearly 70 percent of the nation’s precincts would use machines made by a single company. If the deal is allowed to go through, it would make it harder for jurisdictions to bargain effectively on price and quality. The Justice Department should reject it as a violation of antitrust rules that is clearly not in the public’s interest.
 

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An unhealthy monopoly on voting machines

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An unhealthy monopoly on voting machines

The Miami Herald Dec 24 2009

The only people who benefit from monopolies are their owners. For the rest of us, monopolies mean being powerless because we have no choices.

When Election Systems & Software bought Diebold Inc. for $5 million earlier this year, it meant that 92 percent of Florida's voting machines will be owned by one company. That kind of power over a basic instrument of democracy has caused justified consternation in a state still suffering from the embarrassment of the 2000 presidential election fiasco.
 

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U.S. opens probe of Diebold unit sale

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U.S. opens probe of Diebold unit sale

Ben Klayman Reuters Dec 19 2009

The U.S. Department of Justice and 14 states have opened investigations into the sale of Diebold Inc's (DBD.N) voting machines business to Election Systems & Software that could lead to the unwinding of the September sale, the New York Post said on Saturday.

The deal was too small to require government approval at the time, but it gave ES&S a 70 percent share of the voting machine market, the newspaper said.
 

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Schumer Announces Senate Committee to Conduct Review of Proposed Diebold Merger; Says Deal Needs Additional Scrutiny

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Schumer Announces Senate Committee to Conduct Review of Proposed Diebold Merger; Says Deal Needs Additional Scrutiny

Oct 9 2009
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), the Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised new concerns Friday over Diebold’s proposed sale of its voting machine business to its biggest competitor, and announced that his Rules Committee staff would begin a formal review of potential problems posed by the merger. Schumer announced he would be seeking input from state and local election officials to investigate the deal’s impacts on the administration of elections across the United States. The findings will be compiled into a public report that could be shared with the Department of Justice.  

On Sept. 14th, Schumer requested that Attorney General Eric Holder examine the proposed sale of Diebold’s voting machine business, known as Premier Election Systems, to Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software Inc. (ES&S) for possible antitrust violations.

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Diebold Inc.'s Sale of Voting Machines Unit Doesn't Quiet Critics

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Diebold Inc.'s Sale of Voting Machines Unit Doesn't Quiet Critics

Janet Cho Cleveland Ohio Business News Sep 28 2009

When Diebold Inc. sold its electronic voting subsidiary on Sept. 2, the deal was supposed to permanently sever its ties to its controversial elections business.

But the clamor over the legality of the sale and the reliability of Diebold's voting machines won't die.
 

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Voter Action Challenges Merger of Election Systems & Software and Diebold

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Voter Action Challenges Merger of Election Systems & Software and Diebold

Washington, D.C. Oct 9 2009

September 29, 2009

Washington, D.C.

 

Complaint Filed with the US Justice Department Says Merger Violates Federal Anti-Trust Law

Voting systems monopoly "threatens the democratic process itself"

 

Voter Action, a national non-profit organization working to protect the integrity of US elections, filed a complaint yesterday with the US Justice Department challenging the recently-announced merger of the nation's two largest voting systems companies, Election Systems & Software and Diebold's subsidiary, Premier Election Solutions. The complaint alleges that the merger creates a monopoly power in violation of federal anti-trust laws. The voting rights group delivered its complaint to Assistant Attorney General Christine A. Varney, the chief of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. A copy of Voter Action's letter to the Department of Justice can be found here and a full version of the press release can be found here.

"This transaction threatens the democratic process itself," Voter Action's letter states. "The ES&S/Premier acquisition is absolutely unique in its potential for disturbing U.S. election processes and results."
 

Monopoly on elections? Not so fast.....

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Monopoly on elections? Not so fast.....

Kevin Hall Planet Washington Sep 25 2009

Call it a fait accompli that may not be. A federal judge in Camden, NJ., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injuction that could halt Election Systems & Software's Sept. 2 announced acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s Premier Election Solutions.

The quietly arranged shotgun wedding between voting-machine giants would give ES&S control of election systems in use in almost 70 percent of the nation's voting precincts. Federal Judge Robert Kugler agreed to hear Tuesday the request for immediate injunction brought by a small competitor Hart InterCivic Inc.
 

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Antitrust Concerns Swirl Around Sale of Diebold Voting Machines

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Antitrust Concerns Swirl Around Sale of Diebold Voting Machines

Kim Zetter Wired Sep 14 2009

Sen. Charles Schumer asked the Justice Department’s antitrust division on Monday to investigate the recent sale of Diebold’s voting machines division to a competitor, saying the deal raises anti-competitiveness concerns and has “adverse implications on how our country votes.”

The letter comes just days after another voting machine company filed an anti-trust lawsuit in federal court in Delaware against Diebold and Election Systems & Software.
 

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