The Secretary of State Project

Investigate the Diebold Sale!

Diebold is going out of the election business. But the sale means one company, ES&S, would control nearly 70% of the voting machines in the country, including all of the machines in Ohio, and wouldn't allow officials to inspect the software source code for malfunctions or errors.

A monopoly of this scale puts our voting process into the hands of private manufacturers, resulting in a dangerous lack of transparency. We can't let this sale go unnoticed and unchecked.

Tell Justice Department not to approve the Diebold sale to ES&S unless the company opens up makes the software available to election officials and the general public.

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Christine A. Varney, Antitrust Division

The proposed sale of Diebold's voting machines to competitor Election Systems & Software (ES&S) raises concerns about the integrity and security of our voting process. ES&S has a history of anti-competitive practices that can not go unnoticed.The sale should only be approved if the Justice Department makes the voting machine source code open source and available to election officials and the general public.

The sale has created a near monopoly in voting machines, giving ES&S roughly three-quarters of the voting machine market in the U.S. They are already the largest manufacturer of voting machines in the U.S. and are responsible for counting over 50% of the votes in the last four years. Instead of creating a competitive field of voting machine manufacturers, this merger could result in the increasing costs for running elections, just as security is compromised by the minimal options made available of substandard equipment from a dwindling list of suppliers.

This is why it's critical that the Justice Department only approve the merger if the source code is made available to election officials. The public needs to know that the voting machines being provided on such a wide scale are performing accurately and there are measures in place to assess their performance.

Thank you.

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