Diebold
Diebold is an Ohio-based corporation which manufactures ATMs, safes, vaults, bank drive through equipment, and electronic voting machines. It came under fire in 2003-2004 over the US Presidential Election.
Leaked mailing list
In 2003, the company's mailing list was leaked onto the Internet, and was hosted by various mirrors. Diebold sent DMCA warning notices to the owners of these sites. After one of these mirrors sued the company (OPG v. Diebold), a California district court prevented Diebold from making copyright infringement claims.
Many of these e-mails suggested unethical behavior by Diebold regarding certification of voting machines and the democratic process in general.
The e-mails are available for viewing on various Web sites.
Conspiracy theories
Many claim that Diebold assisted in the victory of George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election.
Their reasons include:
- The company's supposed Republican bias
- Democrat John Kerry winning exit polls
- The programming code behind the machines not being open source and thus not subject to public scrutiny. Over time, bills have been introduced to require the release of the programming code, many of which require government spending on the issue and "mandatory surprise recounts."[1]
- A controversial statement by the then-CEO: "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." [2] George W. Bush did win the Ohio electoral votes in 2004.
Some (incorrectly) claimed a future Republican one-party dictatorship.
Sources
- Was the 2004 Election Stolen? From Rolling Stone Magazine, June 1, 2006. Written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Machine Politics in the Digital Age New York Times article from November 9, 2003, describing supposed bias and statements by the company's then-CEO.
- Diebold Memos (read)
- Diebold Memos (download)
- OPG v. Diebold Information and resources on the court case. From the EFF.
Official Web Sites
- Diebold
- Premier Election Solutions (modern name for voting machine subsidiary)
