Diebold Can't Sell Elections Unit

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Aug 16, 10:28 AM EDT

Diebold Can't Sell Elections Unit

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Diebold Inc. said Thursday it has failed to sell its voting technology business, which is used in elections across the country, amid criticism that its voting machines were not reliable.

Instead, the company said, it will allow the unit to operate more independently, giving it a separate board of directors that includes independent members and perhaps a new management structure.

Diebold also slashed its revenue outlook $120 million for the year for the unit because of delays by several states in purchasing voting equipment and said that will cut the company's earnings by 27 cents per share for the year.

Diebold said in a statement that it made the decision in part because of "the rapidly evolving political uncertainties and controversies surrounding state and jurisdiction purchases of electronic voting systems."




Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DIEBOLD_VOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-08-16-10-19-00

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. die, DIebold, DIE!

once your chairman promised to do all he could to guaranty a GOP win, you lost any right to sell machines for voting.

[ozymandius]

2. Who would want to buy a crappy product AND its legal liabilities? n/t

[tbyg52]

13. How about Halliburton?

Didn't they buy into a lot of asbestos liability during Cheney's tenure?

[napi21]

3. Release your damn "proprietary programming" might be a step in

the right direction...idiots!

[alfredo]

4. Open source the code now.

[DCKit]

25. What if the machines are hardwired to produce the "right" vote"?

I don't understand why nobody has looked at the electronics. Chips - proprietary chips - can be built or programmed to a particular behavior or result. It would be incredibly simple to hardwire a scheme to manipulate election results based on whether the person had a "D" or and "R" next to their name on each and every machine.

C'mon folks, we all know Al Gore should be in the WH.

[wallwriter]

5. Where's George Soros?

He should buy it and either get someone to fix it or just flush the whole damned thing down the toilet.

[Tempest]

6. That would be rich

Can you imagine how the rightwingers would react if Soros owned the machines?

[krkaufman]

22. giggle.

I'd love to see that.

[valerief]

7. They'll make Iraq buy it and pay for it with out tax dollars. nt

[Karenina]

9. Cynic.

:evilgrin:

[valerief]

10. Denialist. nt

[Karenina]

18. En guard!!!

:spray:

[zbdent]

8. The only time you can sell crap and pieces of shit

are when you're a fertilizer salesman ...

Oh, wait ...

[valerief]

11. And politician. That's all they sell, after all. nt

[zbdent]

21. you're making my point

for me ...

[AndyTiedye]

12. Sell it to the EFF for $1

[quiet.american]

14. Further -- "Diebold Election Systems to Become Premier Election Solutions"

Diebold Election Systems to Become Premier Election Solutions

ALLEN, Texas, Aug 16, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In conjunction with the announcement today by Diebold, Incorporated, to create a more independent structure for its elections systems subsidiary, Diebold Election Systems is changing its name to Premier Election Solutions. The change to Premier signals a new beginning for the company, emphasizing Premier's leadership position and proven expertise in election solutions.

:wtf: Who are they kidding!

More

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. That's like AirTran changing its name.

Remember the AirTran crash in the Everglades??? I think they changed their name to JetBlue.

This used to be Michael Moore's sign off line on the web: "Thank you for flying AirTran".

[quiet.american]

16. I thought that was the story with JetBlue and wondered if anyone else remembered that.

I remember that was a particularly gruesome crash, too -- because of the alligators....

[EST]

23. A friend of mine was getting married that week and was supposed

to take that particular flight. He and his fiancee had their hearts set of that time of day or specific destination because of some scheduling thing with his then-to-be new wife's parents, who were to pick them up when they arrived.
He, fortunately, started making his travel arrangements a little too late to get a seat on that flight, no matter what bribes he offered. Just his luck, he chortled, the one flight he wanted to take and they were swamped...

[quiet.american]

26. Talk about gallows humor! Thank goodness they missed that flight. n/t

[Tyrone Slothrop]

27. JetBlue has no relation to AirTran or that crash

I love the way people toss fake "facts" about this board as though they're the truth.

The Everglades crash was ValuJet; they changed their name to AirTran and are still operating.

JetBlue is a completely different company founded by disgruntled former SouthWest Airline employees.

[MetaTrope]

17. Setting up fall guys for when the next election theft comes to light?

That "separate board of directors" must have one hell of a golden parachute in place.

[april]

19. have you looked at the maker of your banks ATM mine is Diebold I am closing

I am closing my B of America account

[EST]

24. Diebold has over a hundred years of building safes, equipment,

and other security and counting equipment for the banking industry. Until the invasion of the neoclowns, Diebold was an honorable outfit, as honest as corporatocracy would allow and highly regarded.

As with everything else more complicated than painting toddlers' toys, republican "conservatives" are utterly incapable of actually doing anything competent to lead or manage. They spell the kiss of doom to anything they are allowed to touch.

One of the reasons for so much mental illness and stressed-out craziness at the corporate management level comes from-I'm convinced- the -stark realization that the niggling little question that comes floating around, unbidden, the one about being a total phony, hiding out in your job, painfully aware that you could probably disappear and nobody would notice for two years, is awfully, sickeningly true.

To really know that almost anybody could do the job you inherited or cheated your way into, stepping over dead bodies on the way, better than you can. The secret knowing that the only real, lasting impact you can have is the one you must deny yourself. That one and only way you can be effective is, of course, destroying the organization for which you are responsible. Some will, in a last desperate cry, like Ted Bundy trying to trick a female prosecutor into meeting him alone, actually take the company or public office down with them, hurting a hell of a lot of people.

It's gotta be tough to be a self-loathing, sexually repressed, black hearted and scummy souled republican. The way to the light means admitting the truth and it will never occur to them to try that weird a solution.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. This story just appeared on the NYTimes home page. nt