Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines

sunilk writes "In a short period, Diebold has been at the center of several problems. Now it seeks to settle the lawsuit filed against it by the State of California by paying $2.6 million. Settlement comes because of flaws in the Diebold systems that could compromise election results."

Comments

I hope they don't just settle...

[nonregistered]

... that will just set the price of an election!

Re:I hope they don't just settle...

[h4rm0ny]

I'm unclear. Who get's the 2.6 million? The government they just chose?

2.6 million?

[Icarus1919]

How the hell can you put a price on jeopardising one of our constitutional rights? These people broke the law in a big way and lied about it, and they're getting off with this slap on the wrist? People should be put in jail for this.

Disgusting.

Re:2.6 million?

[dissy]

Indeed.

After all, attempting to overthrow the government actually ranks as a crime up with murder. Both carry life sentences, though I'm not sure if both still can carry the death penalty.

When terrorists tried it, we started a war.
When a company on home soil trys it, they get a ticket :/

Re:2.6 million?

[caino59]

Diebold made changes to their systems after being certified.

That goes beyond incompetence - I'm sure they understood and knew full well what they were doing. They have lawyers - they knew the details of their contract. They broke it knowingly and willingly.

Just b/c nothing 'bad' happened (depending on your feelings of the outcome of the election, of course) doesn't mean that it wasn't a possiblity. They knew what the problems were - they were well documented - and never fixed.

I have to ask

[rootofevil]

How much is a secure, honest, fair election worth? 2.6 million? Thats a drop in the bucket.

Something to the effect of the vendors machines being overhauled at the expense of the vendor or removed permanently in the state seems a bit more fitting for this degree of failure.

$2.6 million...

[jmcmunn]

So that's how much our the future of our nation is worth? Insecure voting machines that play a part in determining who is elected to office...and it's only worth $2.6 million? What a bunch of B.S., $2.6 million is nothing close to what they should pay, if you ask me.

why no criminal charges?

[belmolis]

I'm disappointed that California didn't pursue criminal charges. A civil suit may be sufficient to deal with honest mistakes, but if, as seems to be the case, Diebold repeatedly made changes to software after certification, that's a deliberate malfeasance. These people need to learn that elections are serious business. These aren't candy machines.

Tell ya what

[Lord_Dweomer]

Tell ya what Diebold, you keep the 2.6 mil, and give back the election.

You got it backwards...

[TR0GD0RtheBURNiNAT0R]

Well if democracy costs $2.6 million, how much for a quasi-constitutional theocracy?

I think you need to switch those two...

The Cost to Diebold

[lheal]

The biggest cost to Diebold is the bad press. Their customers are bureaucrats and politicians, who generally have their finger in the wind.

Unfortunately most of the focus appears to be to accuse Diebold of trying to steer the election toward the Republicans. While that would be a bad thing of awesome proportions, I think all the talk abou it misses the point.

The real issue is having an open, verifiable ballot box, so *no one* can abuse the ballot device to affect the results of an election.

Diebold wants a closed, "certified" ballot box. I don't think they want it that way to influence elections. I think they want it that way because they see secrecy as their best road to a profit. Never mind ensuring the correctness of their programs through open review; that would cost them a business advantage (they think).