Reply #2: here are the people involved

[phoebe]

http://www.microvote.com/contacts.htm


iisw.cerias.purdue.edu/calendar/details.php?event=137878&.../index.php
snip

James Ries, President and Chief Operating Officer, MicroVote General Corporation

James M. Ries, President and Chief Operating Officer, MicroVote General Corp., is a 1983 Graduate of Purdue University's Krannert School of Business. MicroVote General Corporation, founded in 1982, is an industry leader in developing and manufacturing of Direct Record Electronic (D.R.E.) voting systems. The founding partner, James Ries Sr. (Purdue Graduate 1958), has been directly involved in the election industry for nearly 40 years and designed one of the first D.R.E. devices with future needs in mind. Since the first installation in 1985 (Noble County, IN), MicroVote has sold close to 200 municipalities nationwide and continues to provide the most advance voting solutions. Currently, there are thirty-six (36) counties utilizing MicroVote products and services in the state of Indiana.

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=767
apparently Mr. Ries has close ties to Richardson, a Republican and has donated to her campaigns.

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Top state election officials tend to work closely with the vendors of voting equipment. Republican Kathy Richardson, an Indiana State Representative who was Indiana's Hamilton County Clerk, purchased $1.3 million worth of electronic voting equipment from MicroVote, and says she plans to purchase $700,000 more. She told WISH-TV, “When you work with a vendor, you develop a relationship.” She works closely indeed. MicroVote's president, James Ries Jr., has donated to Richardson's campaign. Apparently, voting equipment companies don't see that as a conflict.

Wendy Orange, who recently resigned her job as project manager at ES&S (another voting equipment company), was working with Indiana election officials, with her office inside the election board's warehouse. She stated that voting equipment companies say “trust us,” and they have been trusted for years. But has that trust been earned? Can voters really “trust” the products and the companies who make them?

When Ries, the MicroVote President, was asked how a citizen could know if his/her voted counted, he replied, “It's one of those areas of a leap of faith. You really do have to have a faith in your local jurisdiction, that they are conducting equitable elections in the best faith of the voters. The security for the voter, once again, is the acceptance of good judgment by a local board. Quite frankly, it's very difficult to convince somebody how do I know my vote counted…. There is no way to link that individual ballot back to that individual voter.”

more

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647598&nav=0Ra7JXq2

I-Team: We have records that show, Jim (Sr.), that you made political contributions to State Representative Kathy Richardson, a Republican who first began purchasing MicroVote equipment in 1990 when she was Hamilton County clerk. We understand she also serves as Hamilton County Election Administrator and plans to purchase more MicroVote equipment.

Ries Sr.: I've known Kathy forever. The purchase was there already. She's a long-time friend. Back when she was county clerk I knew her. And I don't hesitate if she asks or if her party asks me to donate to her re-election, I'd like to help her out.

(According to Federal Election Commission records, the senior Ries also made a $1,000 donation to Republican John R. Price’s 1997 campaign run for the U.S. Senate. Price was MicroVote’s attorney for the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, lawsuit and appeal.)

I-Team: Tell us about Mecklenberg County, North Carolina, a federal investigation and federal indictments against the county’s election administrator and MicroVote salesman Ed O’Day. He was convicted of bribery and kickbacks made over a seven-year period, according to stories in the Charlotte Observer.

Ries Jr.: Ed O'Day was an independent agent of MicroVote – not a direct employee but a manufacturer's representative for our product in North and South Carolina. He was convicted of bribing a public official, something we had no knowledge of, nor did we have any input. Unfortunately he's still out selling equipment to election officials, which surprised us all.

I-Team: What about Gary Greenhalgh, a former Federal Election Commission official who was your national sales director. You sued him in 1997. Why?

Ries Jr.: Gary Greenhalgh, on the other hand, was a direct employee. Trade secret violations there. Probably the most damaging, he was actually selling the equipment being released from Montgomery County to our customers on the side. And it violated his working contract with us that he was selling outside of MicroVote's jurisdiction.

I-Team: A Los Angeles Times news story says Greenhalgh told an audience in 1993 that, in writing bids for almost 30 government contracts over two years as national sales director for MicroVote, not one election director asked about protecting ballots from tampering or about how to audit vote counts – matters looming large in Florida. He said influence is more important than a quality product in his industry. How do you respond to that?

Ries Jr.: Influence can mean good selling skills. Influence doesn't have to mean bribery or kickbacks. He’s a bit of a loose cannon…

(Think that just about says it all..)

I-Team: How does the voter know that his or her vote is counted correctly?

Ries Jr.: It's one of those areas of a leap of faith. That you really do have to have a faith in your local jurisdiction, that they are conducting equitable elections in the best faith of the voters. The security for the voter, once again, is the acceptance of good judgment by a local board. Quite frankly it's very difficult to convince somebody how do I know my vote counted.

I-Team: How do they know that when they voted for Candidate X that their vote for Candidate X was recorded?

Ries Jr.: Well, because of identity or lack of identity with records, there's really no way that I could prove to a voter, post tally, that their vote exactly counted the way that they voted it. Even in a paper-based system, that identity leaves the voter once that envelope is opened and the ballot is counted. There is no way to link that individual ballot back to that individual voter. And I understand some of the scrutiny towards the security and certainly the question asked, “How do I know my vote counts.” We do need to have some measure available to show them it does count.