FL: ES&S Betrays Agreement with Leon County /Last Minute Pull-Out

[Wilms]

ES&S Betrays Agreement with Ion Sancho

By Susan Pynchon, Florida Fair Elections Coalition

January 13, 2006

Election Systems and Software (ES&S) has reneged on its agreement to sell its optical scan voting system and the AutoMark ballot marker to Leon County, Florida. Leon County had planned to purchase the ES&S voting system following two successful, authorized hacks of the county's Diebold AccuVote optical scan voting system.

The tests of Leon County's Diebold voting system, conducted in May and December, 2005, were authorized by Leon County's courageous Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho. These tests showed that election results could be altered, without detection, with access only to one Diebold memory card. As a result of the successful hacks, plus Diebold's subsequent refusal to answer county officials' phone calls or to provide software required for upgrades to the Diebold system, the Leon County Council voted to authorize the purchase of the ES&S system. ES&S had first contacted Sancho in December, 2004 and again in June, 2005 to offer to sell its equipment to Leon County.

Everything appeared to be going as planned, when suddenly, in a voice-mail message received on December 29, 2005, Gary Crump, ES&S Chief Operating Officer, told Sancho that the company had decided to deal only with long-time customers due to equipment deadline considerations. (This statement is patently untrue, since ES&S went ahead and contracted with Volusia County, Florida after agreeing to sell to Leon County).

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http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=730&Itemid=113





see also

ES&S Screws Leon County, FL in Last Minute Pull-Out!

Voting Machine Company Betrays Agreement with Election Director Ion Sancho Just Days Prior to Jan 1 HAVA Deadline!

Is ES&S Paying Back for Their Evil Twin Company, Diebold? Are They Afraid of the Same Scrutiny Those Machine Received in Leon County? Another Sunshine State Mystery Unfolds…

1/13/2006

by Brad
Additional Reporting by John Gideon

Are the voting machine vendors now teaming up against an election official who dared reveal the vulnerabilities of their voting machines?

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http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002277.htm

[Tiggeroshii]

1. wow great news

I hope people start catching on!

[kster]

2. They are afraid he

might do a REAL test on the ES&S election theft machines.

[Wilms]

3. Voting-machine firm backs out - Suspicious, Sancho consults lawyers

Voting-machine firm backs out

Suspicious, Sancho consults lawyers

By Bill Cotterell
DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR

January 14, 2006

A reluctant turndown, recorded on Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho's cell phone, and a holiday greeting from a corporate giant that he'd chosen to provide Leon County's voting machinery are the latest twists in Florida's long-running struggle with election reform.

Faced with a deadline this month to comply with handicapped-access provisions of federal law in time for the September primaries, Sancho got the County Commission to dump the old ballot scanners late last year and let him bring in a new company to include a laser-printing system. But the new company, Election Systems & Software, has backed out of the plan - leaving Sancho suspicious of its motives and consulting lawyers.

Sancho said ES&S has been seeking Leon County's business since 2004. He said Diebold Election Systems, which provided the current system, had violated its agreement with the county by refusing to upgrade software unless he signed a new contract and agreed never to link Diebold equipment to any other machinery.

Sancho wanted to couple his 160 Diebold scanners with the "Automark" system that is marketed by ES&S.

Sancho said Friday he will negotiate with Diebold and ES&S first, but has consulted attorneys about taking legal action to make them come to terms.

"I'm going to acquire state-certified, HAVA-compliant equipment in time for this year's elections," Sancho said. "To me, that means getting the Automark."

But Ken Fields, a spokesman for ES&S in St. Louis, said the company isn't interested. He declined to give details but said "we just decided that we would not be able to have the most effective partnership with the county."

David Bear, representing Diebold's elections division, said the company won't back down from its ban on coupling Diebold equipment with any competitor's computers.

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http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060114/NEWS01/601140324/1010