Diebold Machines Out In CA

May 2, 2004

The state of California has banned the use of Diebold electronic voting machines in four counties. Ten other counties may use these machines only after going through an extensive certification process.

This is big news. Many questions have been raised in the past about Diebold's machines. The fact that they produce no paper records of voting make recounts impossible. In the case of a system malfunction, entire districts could be disenfranchised. Further, some have levied very serious accusations against the Diebold company's products, claiming that it is very simple for an outside individual to manipulate election results and get away undetected.

Even more serious, the Secretary of State of California has also requested that the Attoreny General file charges of fraud against Diebold. The claim is that Diebold lied about the status of its machines being certified by the Federal Government. This comes after Diebold was shown to have installed unapproved software on machines in every county in California that it services.

Diebold touch-screen voting machines are used in many other states. Stay tuned to see how many of them follow California's lead.