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{{EP issue article header}}'''Diebold Election Systems''' (ref. parent [[Diebold Inc.]]) is a provider of "direct recording electronic (DRE) voting solutions" [<ref>http://diebold.com/dieboldes/]</ref>, or [[voting machine]]s. In August 2007, the Diebold subsidiary's name was changed to '''[[Bob UrosevichPremier Election Solutions]], CEO of Diebold Election Systems is also the founder of [[ES'''. <ref>http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/FREE/70816004/1088&S]]Profile=1088</ref> ==New name, a competing same owner== Following a year-long failed attempt to sell its e-voting machine subsidiary, the parent company now owned by renamed the [[McCarthy Group]]subsidiary Premier Election Solutions. Together these two companies are responsible for tallying around 80% While still Diebold-owned, PES "will have its own management team and board of votes cast directors," and is based in the United StatesAllen, Texas, while Diebold headquarters are in Ohio, reported ''O'Dwyer's PR Daily''. It The PR firm [[Edelman]] "is reputed that handling the software architecture common recasting of Diebold Election Systems to both is a creation of Mr Urosevich's company [[I-MarkPremier Election Solutions]] and is easily compromised, in part due to its reliance on Microsoft Access databases; and that the I-Mark " reported ''O'Dwyer's''.<ref>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0817edelman_diebold.html</ref> Diebold blamed the lack of buyers on "rapidly evolving political uncertainties and Microsoft software each represent a single point of failure of vote counting processcontroversies surrounding ... electronic voting systems." Diebold also lowered its e-voting revenue expectations by $120 million, from which 80% of votes can be compromised via according to Crain's Cleveland Business. A Diebold spokesman "acknowledged that the highly charged attention paid to the exploit of subsidiary ... has been a single line of code in either subsystem. For evidence of opportunity and evidence of method that the distraction to Diebold systems have been exploited ," which hopes to rig American elections in the recent past, see an expose of these systems ("concentrate on its core ATM and security segments." <uref>free online version</u>) at [http://www.blackboxvotingcrainscleveland.orgcom/apps/pbcs.dll/ Black Box Voting] by article?AID=/20070816/FREE/70816004/1088&Profile=1088</ref> ==History== [[Bev HarrisBob Urosevich]]. Also see [http://www.prisonplanet.com/transcript_harris_091903.html transcript, the first CEO of Diebold Election Systems was also the founder of [[ES&S]] of September 19, 2003, interview a competing voting machine company now owned by Alex Jones with Bev Harristhe [[McCarthy Group]]. "Wally O'Dell, CEO Together these two companies are responsible for tallying around 80% of votes cast in the United States. The current vice-president of Diebold Inc., this week [27 August 2003] sent out letters and the president of ES&S are brothers. It is reputed that the software architecture common to central Ohio Republicans asking them to raise $10,000 in donations in time for both is a Sept. 26 Ohio Republican Party event at his home. ... creation of Mr Urosevich's company [[State of OhioI-Mark]]House Minority Leader Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island, and Senate Minority Leader Greg DiDonato, D-New Philadelphiais easily compromised, in part due to its reliance on Tuesday petitioned Secretary of State [[Ken Blackwell]] to drop O'Dell's company from Microsoft Access databases; and that the list I-Mark and Microsoft software each represent a single point of potential suppliers [failure of new electronic voting machines]vote counting process, saying his presence could undermine Ohio'from which 80% of votes can be compromised via the exploit of a single line of code in either subsystem.  Diebold's entire election system." new touch screen [[http://wwwvoting machine]]s have no paper trail of any votes.portclintonnewsherald.com/news/stories/20030827/localnews/140871In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.html] :<u>Note</u>: According to the AP (August 29, 2003), the letter was actually dated =="Delivering" votes== [[http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6646063.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp 14 August Walden O'Dell]] or 'Wally" O'Dell, the current chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003], more than two weeks prior that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its [[electoral vote]]s to news stories about itthe president next year." He was very active and visible as a Bush supporter: "Wally O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Inc. This is supported by an August 28, 2003 this week [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' news story27 August 2003]. On October sent out letters to central Ohio Republicans asking them to raise $10, 2003, electronic voting company Diebold, Inc000 in donations in time for a Sept. 26 Ohio Republican Party event at his home. ..., sent a cease-and-desist letter to the nonprofit [[Online Policy GroupOhio State]] (OPG) ISP demanding that OPG remove a page House Minority Leader Chris Redfern ... and Senate Minority Leader Greg DiDonato ... petitioned Secretary of links published on an Independent Media Center (IndyMedia) website located on a computer server hosted by OPG. Diebold sent out dozens of similar notices State [[Ken Blackwell]] to ISPs hosting IndyMedia and other websites linking to or publishing copies drop O'Dell's company from the list of potential suppliers [of Diebold internal memos. OPG is the only ISP so far to resist the takedown demand from Dieboldnew electronic voting machines], saying his presence could undermine Ohio's entire election system.[" <ref> http://www.effportclintonnewsherald.orgcom/news/stories/Legal20030827/ISP_liabilitylocalnews/20031016_eff_pr140871.php] html</ref> On October 13:<u>Note</u>: According to the AP (August 29, 2003), it is reported that a former worker in Diebold's Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the state's 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officialsthe letter was actually dated <ref>http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6646063.htm?template=contentModules/printstory. If the charges are truejsp 14 August 2003</ref>, Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election-certification rulesmore than two weeks prior to news stories about it.[http:This is supported by an August 28, 2003 <ref> http://www.wiredcommondreams.comorg/newsheadlines03/politics/0,1283,60563,000828-08.htm ''Cleveland Plain Dealer''</ref> news story.html] On October 16, ==Allegations of illicit interference with an election==On October 13, 2003, the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] announced it is reported that it will defend a former worker in Diebold's Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and news website publisher against claims of indirect copyright infringement from the electronic voting machinesstate' manufacturer. [ibid] On October 21, 2003, Defending s 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials. If the right of a faircharges are true, democratic Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election, [-certification rules.<ref> http://why-warwww.wired.com/featuresnews/2003politics/10/diebold0,1283,60563,00.html Why War?] and the [http:<//scdc.sccs.swarthmore.edu/ Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons (SCDC)] announced that they are rejecting ref> ==Online battles=====Attempts to prohibit publication of hackability evidence===On October 10, 2003, Diebold Elections Systems' sent a cease -and -desist orders and are initiating a legal electronic civil disobedience campaign letter to the nonprofit [[Online Policy Group]] (OPG) ISP demanding that will ensure permanent public access to the controversial leaked memosOPG remove a page of links published on an Independent Media Center (IndyMedia) website located on a computer server hosted by OPG. Thus, through active, legal electronic civil disobedience, Why War? and SCDC will bring  Diebold sent out dozens of similar notices to light the usually silent acts ISPs hosting IndyMedia and other websites linking to or publishing copies of suppression and censorship. The result will be [http[Diebold internal memo]]s. OPG was the only ISP to resist the takedown demand from Diebold. <ref> http://cultcomwww.eff.comorg/mirror.html a '''permanent and public mirror'''] of Legal/ISP_liability/20031016_eff_pr.php</ref> On October 16, 2003, the memos: documents whose public existence challenges the assumed presence of democracy in America. [http://why-war.com/features/diebold_pr.txt] On October 22, 2003, [Electronic Frontier Foundation]] announced that it would defend the two groups have decided to pursue different courses Internet Service Provider (ISP) and news website publisher against claims of action, confident that indirect copyright infringement from the actions of both groups will independently result in continued access to Dieboldelectronic voting machines's memosmanufacturer. SCDC has decided to comply with any cease and desist requests and subsequently take legal action against Diebold[http:<ref>ibid<//www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/daily/archive/fall_2003/20031023.html#n1]. Why War?ref> On October 21, on 2003, defending the other handright of a fair, democratic election, will continue to provide access to the memos by listing mirrors provided by individuals worldwide. [''Why War?'' <ref> http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html] ==SourceWatch Resources== *[[Bush's Rangersdiebold.html </ref> and the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons (SCDC) <ref>http://scdc.sccs.swarthmore.edu/ </ref> announced that they would reject Diebold's cease and desist orders and initiated a legal electronic civil disobedience campaign to ensure permanent public access to the controversial leaked memos. Thus, through active, legal electronic civil disobedience, Why War? and SCDC will bring to light the usually silent acts of suppression and censorship. The result will be a '''permanent and public mirror'''<ref>http://cultcom.com/mirror.html</ref> of the memos: documents whose public existence challenges the assumed presence of democracy in America. <ref>http://why-war.com/features/diebold_pr.txt</ref> On October 22, 2003, the two groups have decided to pursue different courses of action, confident that the actions of both groups will independently result in continued access to Diebold's memos. SCDC has decided to comply with any cease and desist requests and subsequently take legal action against Diebold.<ref> http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/daily/archive/fall_2003/20031023.html#n1</ref> Why War?, on the other hand, will continue to provide access to the memos by listing mirrors provided by individuals worldwide.<ref>http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html</ref> ===Wiki wars==='''Spin on Wikipedia'''On November 25, 2005, an anonymous poster from a Diebold IP address deleted extensive references to the controversy surrounding Diebold's electronic voting machines. This edit was picked up by the Wikiscanner tool. <ref>Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=28623410 history log] for [[w:Diebold|]].</ref> *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold Wikipedia's Diebold article] ==PR campaigns=="Diebold Election Systems (DES) has hired [[Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide|Ogilvy PR]] to burnish the company's image and the benefits of electronic voting in California," ''PR Week'' reported in August 2005.<ref>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=240402&site=3</ref> The state had decertified one of DES' e-voting machines the previous year <ref> https://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2004Q2/history.html</ref>, and the company wanted to ensure that [[E-voting PR|their "story is told"]] and that voters "understand the technology," said Ogilvy's [[Michael Law]], who heads DES' California work. According to ''PR Week'', Ogilvy was researching public perceptions of DES, with an eye to developing messages "about the ease of electronic voting, particularly for voters who do not speak English, as well as for handicapped voters." The same month, ''O'Dwyer's PR Daily'' reported that DES' California PR is part of a national campaign headed by former [[Democratic National Committee]] chair [[Joseph J. Andrew]]. Andrew has been praised for his "grassroots organizing" and "golden rolodex" of CEOs and labor leaders, according to ''O'Dwyer's''. <ref>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0822ogilvy_diebold.htm</ref> DES has worked with numerous other PR firms and consultants to burnish its public image nationally and in various regions of the country. These include [[Public Strategies, Inc.]] and the [[Compliance Research Group]]. <ref>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0822ogilvy_diebold.htm</ref> <ref>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=240402&site=3</ref> See the SourceWatch articles on the firms, as well as [[A Short but Tragic History of E-voting Public Relations]] and [[e-voting PR]] for more information. ==Articles and resources=====Related SourceWatch articles===*[https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Electronic_voting Electronic voting Index of articles]*[[E-Voting: Digital Democracy or a Cash Cow for Consultants?]]*[[Selling electronic voting]]*[[A Short but Tragic History of E-voting Public Relations]] *[[e-voting]] *[[Voting machine]]

==Other Wikis== *http://papertrailpatriots.org *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold Wikipedia's Diebold article] =External articles= External links == *[http://www.smashthetrifecta.com/diebold-memos-1.htm Insider Memos - The Smoking Guns of "Black Box Voting" Election Fraud Dangers]. Several years' worth of memos hosted on five non-U.S. servers. Most links are working (12/02/03). *David L. Dill's [http://www.verifiedvoting.org/ verifiedvoting.org web site]: :*"In response to the 2000 Florida debacle, Congress passed a law, the [[Help America Vote Act]] (HAVA), which mandates voting process reform in all the states." :*"Mr. Darryl R. Wold, former chairman of the [[Federal Election Commission]] (FEC) believes that HAVA requires a voter-verifiable paper trail." *[[Jon S. Corzine]], [http://www.dscc.org/information/stopvotingmachines_letter/ Outrageous: CEO lobbies for Bush while seeking contract to sell voting machines], [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]], no date. Includes online petition to Diebold: "Republicans must stop trying to steal elections. Sign our petition and send them a message today." '''Bev Harris''' *<u>Free Online Version</u>): [http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ Black Box Voting]. *Bev Harris, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0301/S00166.htm "Senate Ethics Director resigns]; Senator [[Chuck Hagel]] admits owning [[voting machine]] company [[McCarthy Group]]", ''scoop.co.nz'', January 31, 2003. *Bev Harris, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm Inside A U.S. Election Vote Counting Program], ''Scoop.co.nz'', July 8, 2003. [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm#intro Introduction]; [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm#intro Part 1: Can the votes be changed?]; [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm#password Part 2: Can the password be by-passed?]; [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm#audit Part 3: Can the audit log be altered?]. *Bev Harris, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00078.htm Bald-Faced Lies About Black Box Voting Machines and The Truth About the Rob-Georgia File], July 10, 2003. '''Other Links''' *C.D. Sludge, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00064.htm Sludge Report #154 - Bigger Than Watergate!], ''scoop.co.nz'', July 8, 2003. Another copy re Bev Harris's investigative report at [http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/voting.shtml ''TruthOut.org'']. *Julie Carr Smyth, [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm Voting Machine Controversy], ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'', August 28, 2003: "The head ([[Walden O'Dell]]) of a company ([[Diebold Inc.]]) vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.'" *[http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6646063.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Diebold appears to have conflict. CEO lobbies for Bush while seeking contract to sell voting machines], AP, August 29, 2003. *[http://foi.missouri.edu/evolvingissues/optakingsides.html Opinion: Taking sides at Diebold], ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'', September 1, 2003. *Lynn Landes, [http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingForumSpeech.htm How We Lost The Vote - How To Get It Back], ''ecotalk.org'', September 7, 2003. *Julie Carr Smith, [http://www.diebold.com/whatsnews/inthenews/executive.htm Diebold Executive to Keep Lower Profile], ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' from ''diebold.com'', September 16, 2003. *Chuck Richardson, [http://niagarabuzz.com/article_149.shtml The not so good part of the Cali recall delay], ''niagarabuzz.com'', September 16, 2003: "The coup de grace, however, is Walden O'Dell, Diebold's chief executive officer, who's classified as one of Bush's "Pioneers and Rangers," a tag reserved for campaign contributors who give more than $100,000 to the Bush campaign." *[http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/blog/page.cfm?pageid=171 Diebold Redux], ''whitehouseforsale.org'', September 17, 2003. *Andrew Donoghue, [http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020357,39117755,00.htm Michael Moore attacks e-voting], ''zdnet.co.uk'', November 10, 2003. *Michael Hardy, [http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1110/web-evote-11-10-03.asp Bias in the voting box?], ''fcw.com'', November 10, 2003. *Faun Otter, [http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0211/S00081.htm Diebold - the face of modern ballot tampering], ''scoop.co.nz'', November 14, 2003. *Paul Festa, [http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5112430.html Diebold retreats; lawmaker demands inquiry], ''cnetnews.com'', December 1, 2003. *Paul Krugman, [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/opinion/02KRUG.html?th Hack the Vote], ''New York Times'' Op-Ed, December 2, 2003.