E-Voting: Here We Go Again

But a recent bombshell may be the worst news yet for e-voting. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced recently that he will sue e-voting technology maker Diebold on charges that it defrauded the state with aggressive marketing and overstated claims, and sold the state poor-quality equipment that did not produce a paper trail and was full of security vulnerabilities. Thus, the state joined a lawsuit launched by voting activist Bev Harris and computer programmer Jim March, who are seeking a full reimbursement for the state.

The lawsuit is certainly less damaging than the alternative Diebold was facing: It also had been threatened with criminal charges related to this incident, but after a lengthy investigation, the attorney general's office dropped them. "We will continue to work with California officials in an effort to put these issues behind us," said Diebold senior vice president Thomas Swidarski in a statement.

Nevertheless, the company is still in hot water; more than 6,000 touch-screen terminals malfunctioned in San Francisco's March primary, while more than half the Diebold machines in San Diego County failed to open on time for the primary election. It's enough to make those punch cards and hanging chads look a lot more attractive.