did anyone see this? . . . Florida county e-voting system deal nixed

[ellenfl]

ES&S has decided not to work with elections officials in Leon County

News Story by Marc L. Songini

JANUARY 18, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Elections officials in Leon County, Fla., are scrambling to find a way to comply with state and federal voting laws now that the vendor from which they had planned to buy handicapped-accessible optical scan election equipment is walking away from the deal.

The Leon County Commission last month voted to scrap its investment in 160 AccuVote optical-scan voting machines from Diebold Election Systems and had planned to swap in new devices from Election Systems & Software Inc. (ES&S) (see �Diebold Machines Voted Out by Florida County�). Leon County intended to use ES&S�s AutoMark optical scan gear to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Florida election laws. According to HAVA, by this month, every precinct must have a touch-screen or specially equipped optical-scan device for handicapped access. The ES&S AutoMark system has an audio component that lets the blind vote.

However, in an interview with Computerworld, Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho said that Omaha-based ES&S, for reasons that are unclear, decided not to go through with what would have been a $1.8 million deal. That decision has forced election officials to search for another way to meet the HAVA compliance deadline. If the county remains a Diebold customer, it will have to purchase that vendor�s touch-screen e-voting systems to comply with the handicapped accessibility laws. That is something Sancho has been reluctant to do because of concerns that the touch-screen machines lack the necessary security and don�t create paper receipts for voters. Leon County had planned to have paper-receipt verified voting systems in every precinct in time for the fall elections.

Standardizing on ES&S would have simplified things, allowing for one set of devices and a single data format for tallying votes. Sancho said Diebold won�t allow its products to be used with any other vendor�s gear because that would violate copyright laws protecting its proprietary technology. What�s next for the county is uncertain.

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sorry if this is a repeat. looks like es&s is forcing leon county to use diebold. i found this interesting as well . . . keeping it all in the family, i guess.

ES&S

ellen fl

[Dr.Phool]

1. We have ES&S in Pasco County

And there were a lot of reported shenanigans with their machines in 2004!

[Wilms]

2. At first I wondered if it was common honor among thieves.

Er, I mean, professional courtesy among vendors.

But if you hunt down a link that includes snips of the Dear John letter ES&S sent to Sancho, you'll get a sense that they fear Sancho running hack tests on their equipment.

And he probably would. :evilgrin:

Still, Leon County is in a heck of a position.

[Selatius]

3. What happens if they fail to meet the HAVA deadline? n/t