Attorney General Bill Lockyer to Sue Diebold

[Joanne98]

Sacramento -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Tuesday he would sue electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold Elections Systems for allegedly making fraudulent claims to Alameda County and the state about the security and reliability of voting machines the company sold the county.

Lockyer plans to join a lawsuit originally filed by electronic-voting watchdogs who claimed that Diebold provided Alameda County with software that was not federally certified and could be tampered with. The lawsuit, now pending in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks restitution of the nearly $12 million in taxpayer money used to purchase the touch-screen voting machines, many of which did not work properly in the March primary election.

Lockyer's office said it was dropping a criminal investigation into Diebold, but that prosecutors had enough evidence to pursue a false claims lawsuit against the company.

"False claims cases involve lying to obtain payment of taxpayer dollars, or to avoid making payments to government entities,'' said Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/08/DIEBOLD.TMP

I wonder if this is the Bev Harris/Jim March lawsuit? Electronic-voting watchdogs in Alameda County sounds like them.

[Andy_Stephenson]

1. See here for additional comment

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2321744&mesg_id=2321744

WaaaaaaHooooooo!

The first Domino falls!

[Joanne98]

4. Excellent work you guys. This is awesome.

SAVE CALIFORNIA FROM ARNOLD...........

[mitchtv]

8. well Lockyear voted for Ahnuld

sounds like an unpopular politician grabbing for a liferaft.I will never vote for him again.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

2. YYYYYYYEEEESSSSSSS!!!! This subject worries me...go get em n/t

[Joanne98]

3. Yes it is........ CA to Join E-voting Lawsuit........

CALIFORNIA Attorney General Bill Lockyer has joined a lawsuit alleging that voting equipment company Diebold sold the state shoddy hardware and software, exposing elections to hackers and software bugs.

California's Alameda County also joined the false claims case, originally filed by a computer programmer and voting rights advocate.
Faulty equipment in the March presidential primary forced at least 6,000 of 316,000 voters in the county east of San Francisco to use backup paper ballots instead of the paperless voting terminals.

The lawsuit is the first e-voting case to rely on an obscure legal provision for whistleblowers who help the government identify fraud. Programmer Jim March and activist Bev Harris, who first filed the case in November, are seeking full reimbursement for Diebold equipment purchased in California.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10704740^15409^^nbv^15306-15322,00.html

[Joanne98]

5. I'm going to post this here

From the other thread.......

Whistleblower bounty: Harris and March refused to seal the evidence in the case, because it is of critical importance to the public, and is time sensitive. By refusing to seal the evidence, a number of additional safeguards were implemented in California and other states. More are being sought.

THANKYOU BEV.

[Carla in Ca]

6. Hurray for us! I'm so proud

One question, though. Can Diebold counter-sue to recoup the huge losses incurred wining and dining half the countries Secretaries-of State? HaHaHa

[Joanne98]

7. It's on Yahoo.

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has said Diebold deceived California with aggressive marketing that led to the installation of touch-screen voting systems that were not tested or approved nationally or in California.


Lockyer's office issued a statement noting he has authority to intervene in and take over false claims cases involving vendors to state.


"Lockyer determined sufficient evidence existed to go forward with a false claims lawsuit against Diebold," the statement said. The state's top lawyer earlier had dropped a criminal investigation of Diebold.


Diebold Vice President Thomas Swidarski said in a statement that the company was pleased Lockyer dropped the probe. Despite Lockyer's decision to sue, the company is "confident that the state's decision to intervene will aid in a fair and dispassionate examination of the issues raised in the case," Swidarski said.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=738&e=1&u=/nm/20040907/tc_nm/tech_diebold_dc

Rate it a five please.........

[Hekate]

9. Now, there's a ray of sunshine!!

:party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce: :toast:

The battle is by no means over and done, but this is truly good news. My undying gratitude to all who made this possible.

Hekate

[TiredTexan]

10. kick

eom