NC Board of Election sued over Diebold certifcation

[Kelvin Mace]

Note: This is breaking news that has just been sent out to the media and to anti-BBV activists.

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/34-NC-board-of-elections-sued-over-Diebold-certification.html

December 08, 2005
North Carolina Sued for Illegally Certifying Voting Equipment

EFF Asks Court to Void Approval of Diebold and Others Without Source Code Review

Raleigh, North Carolina - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Thursday filed a complaint against the North Carolina Board of Elections and the North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services on behalf of voting integrity advocate Joyce McCloy, asking that the Superior Court void the recent illegal certification of three electronic voting systems.

North Carolina law requires the Board of Elections to rigorously review all voting system code "prior to certification." Ignoring this requirement, the Board of Elections on December 1st certified voting systems offered by Diebold Election Systems, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Election Systems and Software without having first obtained – let alone reviewed – the system code.

"This is about the rule of law," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "The Board of Elections has simply ignored its mandatory obligations under North Carolina election law. This statute was enacted to require election officials to investigate the quality and security of voting systems before approval, and only approve those that are safe and secure. By certifying without a full review of all relevant code, the Board of Elections has now opened the door for North Carolina counties to purchase untested and potentially insecure voting equipment."

[Mandate My Ass]

1. Good. Although the last time a judge ruled against Diebold

the Republicans just did what they wanted anyway, even though it was clearly against the law.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. It wasn't the Republicans in NC, it was the Dems

Lot's of Vichy Dems in NC, starting with the Governor.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

2. WooHoo! Thanks for the update!

:bounce:

[jarnocan]

4. important to know

I am so sick of this- there is NO resonable excuse for people in working for US,govenrment to NOT want Verified Voting.
I may be moving to NC BTW. http://vvlobbydays.blogspot.com

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Where in the state

are you looking at?

[jarnocan]

20. around Greensboro

I think it will be a nice change.

[WhiteTara]

6. this is great

in California, the new secretary of state overturned Shelley's ban on Diebold.Maybe we can sue our state.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. You should certainly see if you can

get someone to help with a suit. We must stop them.

[Angry Girl]

8. Creep, creep, creep..... slowly, slowly.... KnR!

URGENT! Timing is critical to save freezing earthquake victims!

[texpatriot2004]

9. Good they are fighting back nm

[Kelvin Mace]

10. The shareholders are revolting as well

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/35-Diebold-may-be-facing-class-action-suit.html

[texpatriot2004]

11. Well, whadda ya know. nm

[In Truth We Trust]

12. Paper ballots NOW!!! Hand counts NOW!!! k&R

[nicknameless]

13. More law breaking without apology.

A letter of complaint (from DU's KatieB) prompted this reply:

General Counsel - N.C. Board of Elections - Response

The Governor's Office referred your e-mail to our agency. Other than appointing the State Board members, the Governor, nor any other elected official directly controls the State Board of Elections. Of course, the General Assembly makes the laws, such as SB 223, that we must enforce.
<snip>

As far as Mr. Long is concerned, he did work for Diebold for a few years ending in 2004. He has also worked for Sequoia Voting systems, and Computer Election systems, which was acquired and became part of ES&S. In addition, he has served as a county election director. He has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of elections both from the governmental employee viewpoint and a voting system vendor viewpoint. He owns no interest in any voting system vendor, and had performed very well for our agency in his temporary position with us in helping organize the effort to approve and purchase voting systems. The choice of what voting systems to approve for purchase is the sole choice of the State Board of Elections, and not any one person.

Don Wright
General Counsel
NC State Board of Elections

Blatant, admitted conflict of interest.

[Kelvin Mace]

14. Don Wright

is a tool.

Mr. Long is concerned, he did work for Diebold for a few years ending in 2004

A lie.

Please consult Mr. Long's resume which he had posted online until he figured out we were linking to it. Fortunenately, I kept a copy.

Diebold Election Systems, Inc. McKinney, TX
Senior Project Manager 2002 to 2005

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/docs/long_cv.htm

Whole article here:

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?serendipity%5Baction%5D=search&serendipity%5BsearchTerm%5D=skulking

[nicknameless]

15. Chilling.

Wright reminds me of McCormack. I read the Behler interview on Scoop as well. What an intricate web of corruption.

Thank you for posting those.

[W stands for Wacko]

17. Therefore, they are under no obligation to comply with NC State Law?

What was his argument: Guilty as charged, Your Honor?

Why was it left to an activist to challenge the action of NC State officials?

Is there a provision in the NC state Constitution that obliges officers of that state to act when they become aware of unlawful acts being committed by anyone in that state, ESPECIALLY another NC State official?


Does this fit into the broader argument for a case of Equity to be presented to the SCOTUS seeking relief from enforcement of the HAVA act?

... on the basis that states are demonstrating that they are turning a blind eye to their own laws and trampling the rights of the voters in stalling for years on enacting HAVA requirements only then to rush to implement installation of e-voting machines while trampling the laws of those states in regard to the process for enacting such changes.

... on the basis that these e-voting machines are demonstrated to be insecure, leave citizens votes unprotected, and have been demonstrated to utilize software that is neither federally sanctioned, tested, known, or documented, but that is demonstrated by scientists to be buggy and unreliable.

... on the basis that in direct defiance of state court orders, these state officials have usurped the power of the states in order to haphazardly comply with a federal act.

[nicknameless]

19. Election officials have been violating voters' rights for years.

Many of them have no regard for laws or safeguards. They are smugly complicit in the overthrow of our democracy.

[JudyM]

16. Well all right! No more complancency about voting problems! n/t

[W stands for Wacko]

18. A lack of complacency is not enough to protect the vote!

Failure to protect the 2006 vote, and all subsequent votes, shall result in the end of Democracy in the United States of America.