Ah yes, a corporate press release masking as a "news article". How nice for Diebold. But you see, it doesn't matter if Diebold black box voting systems performed wonderfully right now. Because their voting systems are computers and they function as they are programmed. Each election the public is at risk of them being tampered with by Diebold consultants or election officials.

It's orders of magnitude easier to tamper with elections using computers so NO ONE even notices. Where with paper ballots, they are a physical medium which take great effort and coordination between scores of people to conceal.

But with a computer, it only takes one.

Elections with computers equates to post democracy.

source: http://sys-con.com/read/200991.htm

Diebold Election Systems Perform Successfully During Illinois Primary Election

Many physically challenged and early voters impressed with their first use of Diebold's touch-screen voting stations with voter-

ALLEN, Texas, March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sixty-three Illinois counties deployed optical scan and touch-screen voting stations from Diebold Election Systems for the March primary election with positive results. The majority of the counties had already used Diebold's optical scan system for several years. However, this was the first Illinois election in which Diebold's touch-screen voting station with a voter-verifiable paper audit trail printer was used, enabling blind and physically challenged voters to cast their ballot privately and independently, meeting Help America Vote Act requirements.

A total of 5,300 Diebold touch-screen and optical scan voting stations were deployed by Illinois jurisdictions for the primary election. More than two million registered voters in nearly 3,000 precincts had the opportunity to vote on Diebold machines during the election.

DuPage County, the second largest county in Illinois with more than 550,000 registered voters, was the largest Illinois jurisdiction to use Diebold's voting solutions. DuPage County deployed approximately 340 optical scan and 340 touch-screen units.

"Our Diebold system performed commendably, was well accepted by the voters of DuPage County and enabled us to effectively meet federal accessibility requirements," stated Robert Saar, Executive Director of the DuPage County Elections Commission. "The March primary election was the first time DuPage County offered early voting to our electorate, and the touch-screen systems were used to record ballot selections from all early voters. The touch-screen stations with voter-verifiable paper audit trail printers were very well received by voters, and the paper audit trail proved to be reliable and 100 percent accurate, as verified by our post-election recount. Tabulation of early voting and election day optical scan and touch-screen results was an easy process with Diebold's unified election management software."

Diebold Election Systems, Inc. is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Diebold, Incorporated , a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery systems and services. Headquartered in Allen, Texas, Diebold Election Systems provides high-quality voting technology to jurisdictions of all sizes, along with comprehensive service and support capability, and is committed to elections accuracy, security and integrity. For more information on Diebold Election Systems, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dieboldes.com/, or call 1-800-433-VOTE.
Diebold Election Systems, Inc.

This seems like a weak case for election fraud, though I applaud this effort to punish liars who seak public office. Politics makes me harken to the old days, the very, very old days of Socrates and Plato, where a populace could vote someone banished from the city.

Tale-Spinning Leads To Charge of Election Fraud
War Hero? Movie Mogul? Baseball Broker? Nope. How About Election Fraud, Instead?
By Dan Richardson, 3-29-06

Craig Marquardo, once of Florida and now of Hood River, is a pitchman of extraordinary ambition. Just ask him: He’s a war hero, a movie mogul, and savior of Portland’s baseball dreams. Except that none of it’s true. He is, one might say, a creative genius when it comes to his resume.

Marquardo’s flimflam has gotten him heat before; he’s had bad press over his claims of being a mover and shaker, over bringing the Montreal Expos to Portland, over being a war hero, over... well, just about everything he says.

Then, Marquardo moved into politics, running for a Hood River Port Commission Seat last year. (He lost against Kathy Watson, 3,255 votes to his 424. It didn’t help his campaign, one supposes, when news organizations punctured Marquardo’s claim of having won a Purple Heart

This time, however, the stakes are higher than a bit of bad press: According to the Hood River News, the Oregon state Attorney General’s Office is pressing a charge against Marquardo for election fraud for, essentially, inflating his qualifications. Marquardo calls the legal action "absurd" and is vowing to continue efforts to launch some grand ventures, including a new newspaper and feature film about...drum roll...his life.

One true thing: He can, apparently, carry a tune. Even if he never did sing backup for Sting.

This is one of the few times where a voting scandal has actually caused an official investigation.

SAN DIEGO, Texas -- Allegations of voter fraud have surfaced in Duval County, where records show one of every two voters who cast a ballot in the Democratic primary did so away from the polls, using the mail.

Longtime county clerk Oscar Garcia Jr. said the number of mail-in ballots in the primary was unusually high in the South Texas county, the San Antonio Express-News reported Wednesday.More than half the 5,641 votes cast were through absentee balloting. That amounts to 2,958 ballots sent by mail, more than all the early voting in the county's 2004 primary when about 2,800 ballots were cast both in person and by mail.Jon West, assistant district attorney for Duval County, said he called for a state investigation after receiving complaints about mail-in vote irregularities.The Texas Attorney General's Office confirmed it received a referral letter March 16 about Duval County from the Secretary of State's Office, the state elections agency.Some residents complained about receiving rejected mail-in ballot forms at their homes, although they were unaware who had sent them in the first place, West said."In one instance, it was the lady's deceased father's name that was on the ballot," West said. "We know he didn't fill it out.Voter turnout in the March 7 primary in Duval County was among the best in Texas, with 57 percent of registered voters participating, compared with only 4 percent statewide.Alicia G. Saenz, Democratic Party chairwoman for Duval County, said she's not surprised with the voter turnout because of two prominent local races, for county judge and county treasurer. But Saenz said she was surprised at the number of mail-in ballots.Republicans did not have contested primaries in Duval County, which is known for a 1948 election in which enough missing votes were found in a rogue ballot box to propel Lyndon B. Johnson to the U.S. Senate.Texas allows citizens to vote by mail if they are 65 or older, disabled or expect to be out of the county during the early voting period and on the day of the election. It also allows some voters in jail to cast ballots via mail.Duval County isn't the only county in which state officials have heard mail-in ballot complaints.Election officials in Ector County asked state officials to investigate potential voting irregularities there as well involving a county commissioner's race.In both the Duval and Ector county cases, the Texas Secretary of State's Office sent a letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott's office requesting an investigation. Abbott's office won't comment unless it is ultimately determined there was wrongdoing, a spokesman said.

It's too bad that election officials have to be sued to follow the law. They keep stating their mantra: Diebold systems are safe. Apparently they aren't reading this blog.

source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060322/ap_on_el_st_lo/electronic_voting_lawsuit_1

Voters Sue to Keep Diebold From Elections