ES&S Selected to Provide Voting Systems to State of Ohio

[phoebe]

ES&S is not any better than Diebold - notice their software NOT open to public review....

OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ohio Secretary of State today announced that Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S), the world's largest and most experienced provider of election management solutions, has been selected as one of the vendors to provide election management products and services to the state's 88 counties.
"We sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence that Ohio has placed in Election Systems & Software," declared Aldo Tesi, ES&S president and CEO. "We are excited to continue our long-standing relationship with the counties and voters in Ohio. Our election professionals are ready to provide every county the highest level of support to successfully manage the transition to a new voting system. Voting system integrity -- specifically security, reliability, and accuracy -- has been the very foundation of all the election management solutions that we have built over the past three decades. As a result, ES&S has designed systems that specifically satisfy the unique and rigorous requirements of the election world."

snip

"ES&S utilizes a patented, closed, election-specific system that is not available in the public domain," added Tesi. "For example, the ES&S iVotronic Touch Screen Voting System uses an unique, patented Personal Electronic Ballot (PEB) activator cartridge which is not commercially available. Our iVotronic voting units are multi-password protected, and they are not networked. In addition, our proprietary application protocols and secure, redundant memory
devices make our solutions significantly less susceptible to external
penetration."
"The ES&S software program used to create an election database and the software/firmware which power the iVotronic are not publicly available," continued Tesi. "ES&S has meticulously striven to continuously enhance oursoftware to fully comply with current Federal Election Commission (FEC)standards."

more

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www/story/09-10-2003/0002014915&EDATE=WED+Sep+10+2003,+03:59+PM


apologies if dupe

ON EDIT: :eyes: - WARNING - looks as if ES&S won SOME of the precincts but others are open to other vendors which means Diebold COULD get still some of the contract. Sequoia is back on the vendor list after their threatened lawsuit - so Ohio bears keeping an eye on..

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. hagel is smiling for bush*

[shirlden]

2. This article is a PR written by ES&S

They sued Ohio after being knocked out of consideration and it looks like the judge said they were to be put back on the list. As of right now, it does not appear that they have won the whole state. It is also possible that the counties they mention have not bought the machines yet, but were just trying them out. I will have to do some research on this. Only a couple of Ohio's 88 counties had switched to electronic.
The SOS Blackwell, said originally that he would supply a list of about 4-5 companies for the counties to make an individual choice.

:kick:

on edit:
go here for more of the story
http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2003/09/08/daily26.html

[phoebe]

3. agree - just PM'd you..

n/t

[dusty64]

4. Great, ES&S is NO

better than diebold. I read many these about their execs links to the "christian" reconstructionist movement that would make ones hair curl and be VERY afraid. The fact that they are also a privately held company makes this even more ominous, even less accountability than diebold.

[Kolesar]

5. Plain Dealer story today--link

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1063273100185852.xml

4 firms to upgrade voting machines

09/11/03
Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus - Secretary of State Ken Blackwell abruptly named the companies eligible to participate in Ohio's statewide voting-machine upgrade yesterday, picking four firms to share in one of the most lucrative conversions to new machines in the country.

Announcement of the four finalists - Diebold Election Systems; Election Systems & Software; Maximus/Hart Intercivic; and Sequoia Voting Systems - put a sudden end to a battle that was becoming increasingly bitter and protracted.

Diebold, headquartered in North Canton, faced mounting national criticism over the certification and security of its systems and the political activities of its chief executive, Walden O'Dell.

ES&S executives who accompanied some county elections officials by limousine to a Dave Matthews Band concert in Columbus, then picked up the tab for the concert, raised eyebrows at the Ohio Ethics Commission.
...snip.....
Every machine on Ohio's list provides precinct-level vote tabulation, prevents the practice of "overvoting" for more than one candidate per race, and produces an internal paper audit trail - all requirements of the Help America Vote Act that followed the trouble-plagued presidential election of 2000.

All the machines can also be adapted to produce a paper receipt for the voter, a feature whose importance to free and fair elections is being hotly debated around the country.
...end excerpt.......

I wonder if this story is correct concerning "paper trails"?

[demdave]

6. If there is a paper trail would that cover all concerns?

[Chico Man]

7. A bill should be passed requiring all election software to be open source

It is the only way democracy can continue into the information age.

Otherwise, who the hell knows?