Lynn Landes 
 The Landes Report ...

Go back to Voting Machine Webpage


RAW NOTES: VOTING SYSTEMS ORGS AND COMPANIES

CAUTION: Much of the information below is historic and out-of-date  It should also be noted that it makes no difference if these companies are honest or not, our elections should NOT be under their control, which makes the voting process private and nontransparent.

Only three companies dominate the market, a number that has remained consistent for at least the last few decades. Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is the largest, followed by Dominion Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic. There are additional companies that provide software and component parts, the overall result being that a small group of businesses control and can manipulate the voting process around the world. At the highest levels, both political parties, the U.S. and foreign governments, and the major news media are well aware of this situation because they are complicit in it. Voting machines companies periodically change their names to obscure their ownership.

 The firms that own U.S. voting systems:

November 2020:



http://www.electiontech.org/ "The Election Technology Council (ETC) consists of companies which offer voting system technology hardware products, software and services to support the electoral process. These companies have organized as an association to work together to address common issues facing our industry. Current members of the ETC are: Advanced Voting Solutions, Danaher Guardian Voting Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic, Perfect Voting System, Sequoia Voting Systems, and UniLect Cor... (Continued)"

Will future elections feature The Battle of the Backdoors to voting software?  Military defense contractors that also provide election services include: Accenture (a business partner of Halliburton, also a defense contractor), Diebold Voting Systems, Northrop Grumman/Diversified Dynamics/TRW (partners with Science Applications International Corporation, SAIC, also in defense industry), General Dynamics/Computing Devices Canada, Unisys (partners with ES&S), National Semiconductor Corporation, Hart Intercivic, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and Perot Systems Government Services, Inc..

Government Oversight: There is no federal agency that has regulatory authority over the elections industry according to Brian Hancock, spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and Jorge Martinez, spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DOJ). No agency or organization even has a complete list of voting machine companies. Using a rough estimate, there are about 70 voting machine companies worldwide, with at least 48 based in the U.S.. The FEC lists only 19, the Texas-based National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) lists 16 that are 'industry certified' (which are outmoded and voluntary guidelines), while the IFES Buyers Guide lists about 64 companies worldwide that appear to be engaged in electronic voting. Meanwhile there is one company that is 'flying under the radar' of both the FEC and NASED, that is the Bermuda-based Accenture (formally Andersen Consulting) that has the contract for the online military vote in 2004. 

 

Ownership:  There are no government standards or restrictions on who can sell and service voting machines and systems. Foreigners, convicted criminals, office holders, political candidates, and news media organizations can and do own these companies. It appears that these companies are dominated by members of the Republican Party and foreign investors. Jack Kemp, a former GOP candidate for vice president in 1996 and a possible candidate for Governor of California this year, is on the board of directors for Election.com, while Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) was the past president of the company (AIS) that counted the votes in his first election and an investor in the company (ES&S) that counted the votes in his second election. At least four companies are foreign-owned: Sequoia (UK), Accenture/Election.com (UK Bermuda), EVS (Japan), and N.V. Nederlandsche Apparatenfabriek (Netherlands). Election.com was formerly owned by Osan, Ltd., a Saudi Arabian firm. Many voting machine companies appear to share managers, investors, and equipment which raises questions of conflict-of-interest and monopolistic practices. 


NOTES & LINKS


ORGANIZATIONS / COMPANY LISTS
(Note: I have found no complete list of vendors, lists must be cross-checked)

Check out: National Workshop on Internet Voting / see Aug 27, 03: Internet Voting - The End of Democracy?


There are several organizations that are promoting electronic voting around the world. Many of these organizations appear to have strong ties to the Republican Party and the intelligence community (CIA, NSA, etc.)

  • Ace Project - "Three leading international organizations that provide electoral assistance have worked together to produce the ACE Electronic Publication. The project partners are the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs  - http://www.aceproject.org/main/english/pi/pid04.htm  

  • IFES - The International Foundation for Election Systems http://www.ifes.org Since 1987, IFES has supplied world governments with election observation and analysis and has developed into one of the world's leading centers of election information and resources. Comment: It appears that the organization was founded and is currently chaired by right wing members of the Republican Party (GOP), although they also have directors that come from the Democratic party. IFES funding comes from USAID that has historic connections to the CIA, according to reports (see red section below)

    • Current FUNDING FOR IFES - 80% from U.S. gov't sources including USAID http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/ USAID's history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration's Point Four Program. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created by executive order USAID.Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms. Is IFES a business or advocacy organization? Finally, under the leadership of our Strategic Business Development division, we are com-mitted to broadening our valued partnerships with USAID, DFID, SIDA, FINNIDA, the UNDP and other funders.With our new strategic plan in place,IFES will offer more products with the same independent,responsive,research-based project development on which our partners have come to rely. http://www.ifes.org//biennial_low_PRINT.pdf 

    • It appears that IFES awards contracts - Controversy about the voter identification cards has continued. In early August, the U.S. based International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) took bids for which company would print the cards. In a move that angered many in Haiti, IFES gave the job to Code Canada. A consortium of Haitian businesses had also made a bid, and saw this as evidence of the conditional nature of foreign aid to Haiti’s democratic process. Perhaps it would make more sense for an agency training the officials of Haiti’s electoral system to award the job to a Haitian consortium, so that they could learn the process for future elections. http://quixote.org/haiti/archives/H31_conditions.html 

    • IFES / USAID / NED / CIA connections ? ?

    • IFES founder, the late F.Clifton White http://archives.ashland.edu/white.html ... is a longtime rightwing Republican strategist. In the 1950's he and William Rusher, publisher of the National Review, helped to turn the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP youth arm, from a moderate to a very conservative group. (18) White played an important role in the preconvention campaign of Barry Goldwater in 1964. (23) White was or is a member of The Conservative Network, a small group founded in 1985 by Reagan administration presidential appointees to bring the administration's conservative political philosophy into the private sector. (17) White is on the board of the National Republic Institute for International Affairs, the Republican Party's conduit for NED funding. (2) He is on the board of the Center for Democracy, a conservative group "working to promote and strengthen the democratic process. "(2) The Center for Democracy is heavily funded by NED. (28) White is also on the board of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. (2) http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-71.htm 

    • http://www.namebase.org/gw/ifes.txt (dated) Excerpts - "It appears that the bulk of IFES funding comes from NED (National Endowment for Democracy) - see current funding below.(26) NED is a quasi- governmental organization conceived by the Reagan administration and funded by Congress to "promote democracy" overseas.(27) NED's funding comes from the U.S. government, primarily from the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).(2) The current focus of IFES work is in Nicaragua with Via Civica. ViaCivica, a grassroots electoral organization working on voter education and registration. It receives additional NED funding through the Costa Rican political/electoral training firm Counseling Center for Democracy (CAD). CAD receives NED funding for its work with Via Civica through the America's Development Foundation, another conservative "democracy building" organization.(27) According to Henry Quintero, who was hired by IFES specifically for the Nicaraguan project, IFES assists in Via Civica's electoral training and education work and provides them with materials such as flyers, bumper stickers, and the like.(28) Via Civica, through the CAD project SISTEMAS, provides a wide range of educational and election work, including election analyses and demographics, opinion polls, surveys, electoral training workshops, an election "hot line," and poll watching.(6) Via Civica claims to be nonpartisan but is closely associated with the Nicaraguan National Opposition Union (UNO), the U.S. backed coalition opposing the Sandinista government.(2) In a recent interview, Henry Quintero said that in addition to Nicaragua, IFES has election projects in Hungary, Namibia, India, USSR, and Paraguay.(28)F. Clifton White worked with CIA director William Casey on the Reagan administration's pro-contra propaganda network.(2) According to a November 1986 memo from Walter Raymond to National Security Adviser John Poindexter, White was to be in charge of the formation of a group modeled after the bipartisan cold war champion, Committee on the Present Danger, but focusing on Central America.(2) White and Richard Scammon of IFES lunched with the Soviet Central Election Commission to the U.S. during their November 1989 visit.(10)"

    • William J. Hybl, Chairman - Bush appointee and senior adviser to the 56th UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2001) William J. Hybl is the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of the El Pomar Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the Rocky Mountain region. The El PQmar Foundation provides grants for programs in education, health care, the environment, amateur sports, human services, and the arts, with special emphasis on excellence in nonprofits. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Broadmoor Hotel Inc. and President Emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee. In addition, he is a member of the International Olympic Committee and on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Foundation.In 1981, he served as Special Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Hybl was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1972 to 1973. Having received three consecutive presidential appointments, from 1992-1997, Mr. Hybl served as Vice- Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy http://www.un.int/usa/ga56_hybl_bio.htm Chairman and CEO of the El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs, CO, the largest foundation in the Rocky Mountain region; President of the United States Olympic Committee during four Olympic Games and member of the International Olympic Committee; former member of the Colorado House of Representatives and Assistant District Attorney of the Fourth Judicial District of Colorado; former U.S. representative to the U.N. General Assembly and special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. http://www.ifes.org//board.htm El Pomar is known as an extreme right wing group http://www.cat.org.au/a4a/fake29.html 

    • Paul DeGregorio, Executive vice president of IFES 


Paul DeGregorio (BA 1992), International Expert on Elections and Director of UMSL, Outreach and Development, and Caroline Bean, Alumni Chapter President. University of Missouri - St. Louis http://www.umsl.edu/~polisci/2001reun.htm 


COMPANIES:

The voting systems companies listed below seem to be in a constant state of changed names and/or ownership. Editor welcomes leads. Send to lynnlandes@earthlink.net 

ES&S Diebold Sequoia Danaher AdvancedVoting-Shoup Important others


ES&S
 - election Systems and Software
http://www.essvote.com/

9/3/09 - ES&S has bought Diebold - now counts 80% of all votes in America.  http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/diebold-sells/

Update: http://www.theportlandalliance.org/2006/aug/election2006.htm "What is known about the company’s ownership, dug up by Harris, points to a twisty trail of criminality, conflict of interest and non-disclosure. In 1987 the Omaha World-Herald purchased 47 percent stake in the company, and the McCarthy Group bought 35 percent. The Omaha World-Herald, in turn, is owned by the Peter Kiewit Foundation. Harris contends that Kiewit is just about the last company that should have anything to do with an election system vendor. Kiewit and its subsidiaries have been involved in as many as 11 cases of bid-rigging on road contracts and state and federal highway projects. With convictions in Louisiana, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska, the companies have paid millions of dollars in fines. “Kiewit has connections with both ES&S parent companies and has a track record of hiding ownership when it wants to,” says Harris. “It has a powerful profit motive for getting the people it wants into office and it has broken the law in the past to achieve its goals.”"

To better appreciate the scope of the corporate takeover of the democratic process, here is Unisys's description of itself in the IFES Buyers Guide, "Unisys has successfully implemented national voter registration, identification, and integrated electronic election systems for Brazil (100 million registered voters), South Africa (20 million), Malaysia (10 million), Dominican Republic (4 million), Costa Rica (2 million), and Panama (2 million). Unisys has also successfully implemented Internet-based election results real-time reporting systems for Rome, Italy and for the State of Minnesota. In partnership with Election Systems and Software (ES&S), Unisys has successfully implemented in the United Kingdom multi-channel voting pilot test systems -including touch-screen voting, kiosk voting, postal voting, Internet voting, telephone voting, and digital television voting. Unisys has offices in more than 100 countries."  http://www.ifesbuyersguide.org/detailtest.php?title=Regions&subtitle=Middle_East 



DIEBOLD ELECTION SYSTEMS, INC (military defense contractor) http://www.diebold.com/solutions/election/default.htm 

Premier Election Solutions, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Election_Solutions, formerly Diebold Election Systems, Inc. (DESI), a subsidiary of Diebold that makes and sells voting machines. In 2009, it was sold to competitor ES&S. Another subsidiary selling electronic voting systems in Brazil is Diebold-Procomp, with minor market share in that nation. In 2010, Dominion Voting Systems purchased the primary assets of Premier, including all intellectual property, software, firmware and hardware for Premier's current and legacy optical scan, central scan, and touch screen voting systems, and all versions of the GEMS election management system from ES&S. At the time ES&S spun off the company due to monopoly charges its systems were in use in 1,400 jurisdictions in 33 states and serving nearly 28 million people.

Check out - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/features/?s=usacoup this website has most of Bev Harris stuff on Diebold.

Article: November 2002: The face of modern ballot tampering by Faun Otter http://www.bartcop.com/diebold.htm 

Felons at Diebold:

Aug 28, 03 - Vote Company Exec Joins Bush Re-Elect Effort "The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." "The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election." by Julie Carr Smyth of Cleveland Plain Dealer Bureau http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/106207171078040.xml 

Owners & staff: (Heavy Shoup influence. Unclear whether Van Pelt and Ensminger listed below are with BOTH Global and Shoup-Advanced Voting Solutions)


SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS INC. http://www.sequoiavote.com

News:

Notes:



DANAHER'S GUARDIAN http://www.controls-online.com/gvs / http://www.danaher.com/business/niche_division.asp?key=36 



ADVANCED VOTING SOLUTIONS INC / SHOUP VOTING SOLUTIONS www.AdvancedVoting.com)/ http://www.shoupvote.com/



Other election systems companies: 


Accenture & Election.com (military defense contractor) (June 2003 - www.Election.com purchased by http://www.accenture.com)

As mentioned in the following article, Accenture also has a business relationship with Hart Intercivic of Austin, Texas http://www.hartintercivic.com  - http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/spotlight/2002/042202.html 


Unisys - http://www.unisys.com/index.htm  (military defense contractor)  http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/db.aspx?act=cinfo&coid=005358932

Partners with ES&S, Dell, and Microsoft - see below


Northrop Grumman/Diversified Dynamics' iPaper  (military defense contractor) http://www.northropgrumman.com/  

TRW (military defense contractor) Voting business? sketchy info

More on TRW, Vinnell, and the Carlyle Group  (all three are military defense contractors) http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/db.aspx?act=cinfo&coid=004179453


Cogent  http://www.cogentsystems.com/cogent/cogenthome.html 


SAIC http://www.ecotalk.org/VoteHereSAIC.htm Privately held. One of the world's largest providers of Internet voting services. 


VoteHere (Bellevue, Washington) www.votehere.net  

Google's description: VoteHere, Inc - A Global Elections Technology Company is the leading worldwide supplier of secure Internet voting technology.

"VoteHere is a pioneer in developing secure e-voting technology that simplifies the election process, while adding increased security and reliability over traditional voting methods. Additionally, the cost of the election and voter appeal are equal considerations in adopting new election methods."

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Jan. 30, 2002 – VoteHere announces standards for qualifying remote voting technology. VoteHere, the industry leader in secure technology and software for electronic and online voting systems, announced today that it has released a draft of voting system standards suitable for voting on electronic network devices including wireless phones, Internet-connected PCs, televisions, and ATM-style kiosks.   

more news: 

Admiral Bill Owens, Chairman "Admiral Bill Owens serves as the Company's Chairman. Currently, Bill Owens is Co-CEO and Vice Chairman of Teledesic, a global broadband networking company. Previously, he was President, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the nation’s largest employee-owned high-technology company. During his distinguished military career, Bill Owens held the rank of four-star Admiral in the US Navy and served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments, commander of the US Sixth Fleet, senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney and director of the Office of Program Appraisal for the Secretary of the Navy."

Dr. Robert Gates "Dr. Robert Gates has 27 years experience as an intelligence professional for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including serving as Director of Central Intelligence from November 1991 until January 1993. Currently, Dr. Gates is the Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, a position he has held since 1999."  (Editor's note: Dr. Gates is also on the Board of TRW, which owns Cogent, another voting machine company - see above. July 25, 03 - it was just reported on MSNBC by Andrea Mitchell that Robert Gates was with the CIA and NSA (National Security Agency)>

Advisor - Robert G. Wolfe, General Partner, Northwest Venture Associates "Robert Wolfe brings 25 years of finance, operations and technology management experience to the VoteHere team. He is currently a General Partner with Northwest Venture Associates (NWVA), the largest venture capital fund exclusively invested in Pacific Northwest-based companies, where he previously served as Entrepreneur in Residence and Advisory Board Member. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as President and COO of GT Group Telecom, Canada's largest independent, facilities-based telecommunications provider, where he grew revenue from under C$2 million to C$250 million (annual rate) and closed several key acquisitions. He drove multiple financings over C$2 billion, including the company's initial public offering on NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE 300). Mr. Wolfe was also CFO of Trillium Corporation, a global investment firm with real estate and forestry interests, where he oversaw the firm's investment portfolio and financial strategies, including technology, retail, media and venture funds.Mr. Wolfe has also held several senior positions with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) in Asia, Europe and the US, where he provided investment-banking services for non-Japan Asia and European financial institutions. His efforts led to the first Euroyen auto-backed financing, overseeing mortgage- and asset-backed securities finance and assisting in the development of Fannie Mae's multi-billion dollar callable debt program."

Advisor - Deborah Brunton, Vice President, Public Affairs - "Deborah Brunton comes to VoteHere from the Microsoft Corporation, where she held the position of Director of State Government Affairs in the Law and Corporate Affairs department. In this role, she was responsible for a program focused on issue advocacy, policy development, relationship building and industry affairs management. From 1989 to 1993, she also served as Press Secretary for United States Senator Slade Gorton. Ms. Brunton received her Bachelor of Arts in History from Whitman College."


UniLect Corporation http://www.unilect.com/

Note: According to reporter Daniel Hopsicker, Glenn Boord and Ralph Escudero owned a now-defunct voting-machine company, Uni-lect, associated with Sequoia Pacific. Is it defunct? source: http://www.madcowprod.com/II.htm 

"UniLect Corporation, headquartered in Dublin, California, was founded in 1989 to serve the large government election industry in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser degree, internationally. UniLect is a development, sales, manufacturing, installation and support corporation for its election products. Each of these products involves state-of-the-art hardware and software, including voting equipment and systems, required or desired by state, county, city, and town governments. The President of UniLect Corporation is Jack Gerbel, who has been actively involved in the election equipment industry since 1965. His career began in elections with IBM Corporation and then as a founder, Vice-President and Board of Directors member of Computer Election Systems (CES), which at the time of its sale was the largest election equipment company in the world. Mr. Gerbel had at that time the distinction of personally selling and installing more successful election systems than any other person in the U.S. Two major accounts that he sold and successfully installed were Cook County, Illinois and the City of Chicago. Upon the sale of CES, Mr. Gerbel became Vice-President of Sales for Business Records Corporation (BRC), including new product development. He has become nationally known for his expertise in the election industry and has been called upon to consult on various election projects."


Booz·Allen & Hamilton, Inc. (CIA director R. James Woolsey is Vice President, MON, JUNE 23, 2003 http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=62 

military defense contractor - http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/db.aspx?act=cinfo&coid=006928857

Jan 4, 02 - "The Pentagon spent $6.2 million on a pilot program, which in 2000 was used for absentee voting over the Internet by just 84 service members. Carried out by private contractor Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc., the project was described in a report on the Voting Over the Internet (VOI) Pilot Project, released with little fanfare this summer by the Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance Program. Critics noted that the cost involved in the pilot program worked out to $74,000 per voter. " http://www.electionline.org/site/docs/pdf/defense.bill.okd.by.bush.bna.01.04.02.pdf 

.


General Dynamics' Computing Devices Canada (military defense contractor)  http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/db.aspx?act=cinfo&coid=001381284


AccuPoll http://www.smallcapreview.com/acup.htm "AccuPoll Holding Corporation (OTC-BB - ACUP) represents the future of the voting industry. Spurred on by nearly $4 billion in congressionally approved spending over the next three years, ACUP's system will allow voters to electronically and securely place votes for their candidates in a secure and technologically accurate environment."


Hart Intercivic of Austin, Texas - DFM Associates's Mark-A-Vote? business alliances with Accenture and Dell http://www.hartintercivic.com ( www.Accenture.com (military defense contractor)  - see above - has a business relationship Hart. See http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/spotlight/2002/042202.html Dell and Hart InterCivic Announce Alliance to Modernize American Voting Companies Join Forces to Manufacture and Market Advanced Electronic Voting Systems http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/press/pressoffice_news_2001-06-04-aus-001.htm

"David Hart, chairman of Hart InterCivic, said that because of the business he's in he doesn't contribute. A major investor in Hart InterCivic is Tom Hicks's investment firm, Stratford Capital Partners. Hicks was in the group of investors who bought the Texas Rangers from Bush and others for nearly three times their investment in it. Hicks has also been a lavish donor to Bush campaigns." Source: U.S. Election 2004: How the Republicans Can 'Decide' the Vote by Ronnie Dugger Released: 3 Aug 2004 http://www.agenceglobal.com/Article.asp?Id=197  

READ MORE -October 20, 2004—As if Bush's sale of his $606,000 share of Texas Rangers stock to owner Tom Hicks for $15 million wasn't enough, there's more from deep in the heart of Texas to nail the good old boy, namely the possibility of tax evasion. That is, Bush declared the proceeds as a long-term capital gain, which it wasn't, as opposed to ordinary income, which it was. This means Bush paid at the capital gains' rate of 20 percent as opposed to the ordinary income rate of 39.6 percent. Beating the IRS out of nearly 20 percent in additional taxes. But the fun doesn't stop there.... http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/102404Mazza/102404mazza.html  

http://www.internetvoting.com/solutions/eslate.html
eSlate was developed by Neil McClure, the founder (in 1996) of
Worldwide Election Systems, which was aquired by Hart InterCivic in 1999.

Aug. 15, 2003, 11:55PM Hart InterCivic, together with MAXIMUS, NCR Corporation and DFM Associates have teamed to provide election equipment and services to Ohio counties. (BW) Hart InterCivic Conducts Successful Elections in Ohio Counties with eSlate Electronic Voting System Business Editors/High-Tech Writers/Government Writers
(c) 2003 Business Wire. AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2003-- found in google cache 
http://216.239.53.104 


Perot Systems Government Services, Inc.(military defense contractor)  www.soza.com "specializes in systems integration services in support of critical business such as election management." http://www.perotsystems.com/government/careers/whatwedo.htm / http://www.ifesbuyersguide.org/detailtest.php?title=Regions&subtitle=Middle_East


"Election Services Corporation (ESC) http://www.electionservicescorp.com/ is the Internet voting company and Democratic bad boy Tony Coelho is on their board. This is a little unusual in a business dominated by the Republican and foreign corporations. Tony "was a six-term congressman and House majority whip, who resigned from Congress after reports surfaced that he had accepted a sweetheart loan from a troubled S&L operator. The loan helped Coelho buy a $100,000 junk bond, but he never reported it on his government disclosure form. The Justice Department decided not to bring charges against him," according to Slate.msn.com. He was also investigated by the State Department when he was Al Gore's campaign manager for the 2000 presidential election. The investigation was reportedly related to his work as the commissioner general of the United States Pavilion at the 1998 World Expo. As a result, Tony resigned as Gore's campaign manager. " http://www.ecotalk.org/Democrats&VotingTechnology.htm 


Avante http://www.avantetech.com or http://www.aitechnology.com/avantetech/homepage.htm sister company AIT has representatives in England, France, and offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China.


Fidlar & Chambers http://www.fidlar.com


Microvote - http://www.microvote.com / http://www.microvote.com/html/email.htm  http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/00D0273P.HTM  "James F. Ries misappropriated the prototype of an electronic voting machine from another company..."


Voting Technologies International http://www.vtintl.com/new/default.asp


IVM - online voting http://www.cwf.co.uk/clients_casestudies_wrestle01.asp   


Election Resources Corporation http://www.ballots.com/ Distributer of ES&S? The BPS is used to prepare Votomatic ballot pages and absentee ballots, Paper ballots, E.S. & S. and Optech ballots. The system also produces an array of reports to assist in the printing of ballots and the preparation of voting devices.


Harp Enterprises, Inc. www.harpenterprisesinc.com Lexington, KY
Sales Contact: Roger D. Baird, President (harpent@aol.com) [1] 800-432-9282
Description: Distributor for the Danaher E.V.M 1242 Voting System, ballot printer for Shoup and AVM Lever, printer of ES&S optical scan ballots. Supplier for precinct election supplies, signs, ballot boxes, etc.


Safevote, Inc. http://www.safevote.com Eva Waskell, Communications Director  (interview: Safevote does online voting only. It's a private company. Would not release any company information. Oct 16, 2002 source: L. Landes


Populex a voting systems company that is reportedly creating the electronic voting system for Illinois, has on its advisory board, Frank C. Carlucci, Chairman Emeritus, The Carlyle Group, former Secretary of Defense and Advisor to the President for National Security Affairs, and business partner of former President George H.W. Bush


Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. http://www.triadgsi.com/ 

 http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Triad_Governmental_Systems,_Inc

 Proof of Ohio Election Fraud Exposed
    By William Rivers Pitt
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Wednesday 15 December 2004

    Among activists and investigators looking into allegations of vote fraud in the 2004 Presidential election, the company always mentioned was Diebold and its suspicious electronic touch-screen voting machines. It is Diebold that has multiple avowed Republicans on its Board of Directors. It was Diebold that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bush’s election campaign. It was Diebold CEO Walden O’Dell who vowed to deliver Ohio’s electoral votes to Bush.

    As it turns out, everyone was looking the wrong way. The company that requires immediate and penetrating scrutiny is Triad Systems.

    Triad is owned by a man named Tod Rapp, who has also donated money to both the Republican Party and the election campaign of George W. Bush. Triad manufactures punch-card voting systems, and also wrote the computer program that tallied the punch-card votes cast in 41 Ohio counties last November. This Triad company graphic displays the counties where their machines are used:

 


 

 

    Given the ubiquity of the Triad voting systems in Ohio, the allegations that have been leveled against this company strike to the heart of the assumed result of the 2004 election.

    Earlier this week, the allegations against triad were first raised by Green Party candidate David Cobb, who testified at a hearing held in Columbus, Ohio by Rep. John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee. In his testimony, Cobb stated:

    Mr. Chairman, though our time is limited, I must bring to the committee's attention the most recent and perhaps most troubling incident that was related to my campaign on Sunday, December 12, about a shocking event that occurred last Friday, December 10.

    A representative from Triad Systems came into a county board of elections office un-announced. He said he was just stopping by to see if they had any questions about the up-coming recount. He then headed into the back room where the Triad supplied Tabulator (a card reader and older PC with custom software) is kept. He told them there was a problem and the system had a bad battery and had "lost all of its data". He then took the computer apart and started swapping parts in and out of it and another "spare" tower type PC also in the room. He may have had spare parts in his coat as one of the BOE people moved it and remarked as to how very heavy it was. He finally re-assembled everything and said it was working but to not turn it off.

    He then asked which precinct would be counted for the 3% recount test, and the one which had been selected as it had the right number of votes, was relayed to him. He then went back and did something else to the tabulator computer.

    The Triad Systems representative suggested that since the hand count had to match the machine count exactly, and since it would be hard to memorize the several numbers which would be needed to get the count to come out exactly right, that they should post this series of numbers on the wall where they would not be noticed by observers. He suggested making them look like employee information or something similar. The people doing the hand count could then just report these numbers no matter what the actual count of the ballots revealed. This would then "match" the tabulator report for this precinct exactly. The numbers were apparently the final certified counts for the selected precinct.

    Triad is contracted to do much of the elections work in this county and elsewhere in Ohio. This included programming the candidates into the tabulator, and coming up with the rotation of candidates in the various precincts (that is, the order of which candidate is first changes between precincts). They also have a technician in the office on election night to actually run the tabulator itself.

    Triad also supplies the network computers on which all of the voter registration information and processing is kept for the county.

    It was unusual for the computers to be taken apart. At least one member of the Board of Elections was told the tabulator was in pieces when he called to check on the office.

    The source of this report believes that the Triad representative was "making the rounds" of visiting other counties also before the recount. This person also stated they would not pass on the suggestion of the "posted" hidden totals, and would refuse to go along with it if it were suggested by the others in the office at the time.

    The source of this information believes they could lose their job if they come forward.

    The source of this information is named Sherole Eaton, Hocking County deputy director of elections. She has since written and signed an affidavit describing her experience with the Triad representative, the text of which is here:

    Go to Original

 


    AFFIDAVIT
    December 13, 2004
    Sherole Eaton
    Re: General Election 2004 - Hocking County, TriAd
    Dell Computer about 14 years old - No tower

    On Friday, December 10 2004, Michael from TriAd called in the AM to inform us that he would be in our office in the PM on the same day. I asked him why he was visiting us. He said, "to check out your tabulator, computer, and that the attorneys will be asking some tricky questions and he wanted to go over some of the questions they maybe ask." He also added that there would be no charge for this service.

    He arrived at about 12:30PM. I hung his coat up and it was very heavy. I made a comment about it being so heavy. He, Lisa Schwartze and I chatted for a few minutes. He proceeded to go to the room where our computer and tabulation machine is kept. I followed him into the room. I had my back to him when he turned the computer on. He stated that the computer was not coming up. I did see some commands at the lower left hand of the screen but no menu. He said that the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone. He said that he could put a patch on it and fix it. My main concern was - what if this happened when we were ready to do the recount. He proceeded to take the computer apart and call his offices to get information to input into our computer. Our computer is fourteen years old and as far as I know had always worked in the past. I asked him if the older computer, that is in the same room. could be used for the recount. I don't remember exactly what he said but I did relay to him that the computer was old and a spare. At some point he asked if he could take the spare computer apart and I said "yes". He took both computers apart. I don't remember seeing any tools and he asked Sue Wallace, Clerk, for a screwdriver. She got it for him. At this point I was frustrated about the computer not performing and feared that it wouldn't work for the recount. I called Gerald Robinette, board chairman, to inform him regarding the computer problem and asked him if we could have Tri Ad come to our offices to run the program and tabulator for the recount. Gerald talked on the phone with Michael and Michael assured Gerald that he could fix our computer. He worked on the computer until about 3:00 PM and then asked me which precinct and the number of the precinct we were going to count. I told him, Good Hope 1 # 17. He went back into the tabulation room. Shortly after that he (illegible) stated that the computer was ready for the recount and told us not to turn the computer off so it would charge up.

    Before Lisa ran the tests, Michael said to turn the computer off. Lisa said, " I thought you said we weren't supposed to turn it off." He said turn it off and right back on and it should come up. It did come up and Lisa ran the tests. Michael gave us instructions on how to explain the rotarien, what the tests mean, etc. No advice on how to handle the attorneys but to have our Prosecuting Attorney at the recount to answer any of their legal questions. He said not to turn the computer off until after the recount.

    He advised Lisa and I on how to post a "cheat sheet" on the wall so that only the board members and staff would know about it and and what the codes meant so the count would come out perfect and we wouldn't have to do a full hand recount of the county. He left about 5:00 PM.

    My faith in Tri Ad and the Xenia staff has been nothing but good. The realization that this company and staff would do anything to dishonor or disrupt the voting process is distressing to me and hard to believe. I'm being completely objective about the above statements and the reason I'm bringing this forward is to, hopefully, rule out any wrongdoing.

    Further buttressing Eaton’s claim is an addendum to a previous affidavit filed by Evelyn Roberson who, you may recall, was involved in the Greene County recount action that was summarily shut down by Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell. Her addendum reads as follows:

    Addendum to Declaration of Evelyn Roberson dated December 12, 2004
    Re: Incidents of December 10, 2004

    This is to add to the approximately 1 :15 p.m. portion of the visit with the Deputy Director of Elections Lyn McCoy with respect to the following comment:

"She said they would have their computer technician check over their computers on Monday in case they has been tampered with."

the addition is that Lyn McCoy also mentioned to me at the same time that her computer technician was with Triad.

I declare under penalty of perjury the forgoing is true and correct.

Dated: December 14, 2004

Evelyn Roberson

    Original versions of these documents should be available later on Wednesday on the website of Rep. Conyers.

    Conyers, upon hearing these allegations, sent a letter to both the FBI Special Agent in Charge in Ohio and the Hocking County Prosecutor. The text of that letter is as follows:

    December 15, 2004

    As part of the Democratic staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election and following up on a lead provided to me by Green Party Presidential Candidate, David Cobb, I have learned that Sherole Eaton, a Deputy Director of Board of Elections in Hocking County, Ohio, has first hand knowledge of inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering in the Ohio presidential election in violation of federal and state law.

    I have information that similar actions of this nature may be occurring in other counties in Ohio. I am therefore asking that you immediately investigate this alleged misconduct and that, among other things, you consider the immediate impoundment of election machinery to prevent any further tampering.

    On December 13, my staff met with Ms. Eaton who explained to them that last Friday, December 10, Michael Barbian, Jr., a representative of Triad GSI unilaterally sought and obtained access to the voting machinery and records in Hocking County, Ohio, modified the computer tabulator, learned which precinct was planned to be the subject of the initial test recount and made further alterations based on that information, and advised the election officials how to manipulate the machinery so that the preliminary hand recount matched the machine count. Ms. Eaton first relayed this information to Green Party representatives, and then completed, signed and notarized an affidavit describing this course of events, a copy of which is attached.

    The Triad official sought access to the voting machinery based on the apparent pretext that he wanted to review some "legal questions" the officials might receive as part of the recount process. At several times during this visit, Mr. Barbian telephoned into Triad's offices to obtain programming information relating to the machinery and the precinct in question. I have subsequently learned that Triad officials have been, or are in the process of intervening in several other counties in Ohio - Greene and Monroe, and perhaps others (see attached).

    There are several important considerations you should be aware of with respect to this matter. First, this course of conduct would appear to violate several provisions of federal law, in addition to the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. 42 U.S.C. §1973 provides for criminal penalties against any person who, in any election for federal office, "knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by . . . the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held." 42 U.S.C. § 1974 also requires the retention and preservation, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of a federal election, of all voting records and papers and makes it a felony for any person to "willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate, or alter" any such record. Further, any tampering with ballots and/or election machinery would violate the constitutional rights of all citizens to vote and have their votes properly counted, as guaranteed by the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

    Second, the course of conduct would also appear to violate several provisions of Ohio law. No less than 4 provisions of the Ohio Revised Code make it a felony to tamper with or destroy election records or machines.1 Clearly, modifying election equipment in order to make sure that the hand count matches the machine count would appear to fall within these proscriptions.

    Moreover, bringing in Triad officials into other Ohio Counties would also appear to violate Ohio Revised Code § 3505.32 which provides that during a period of official canvassing, all interaction with ballots must be "in the presence of all of the members of the board and any other persons who are entitled to witness the official canvass," given that last Friday, the Ohio Secretary of State has issued orders to the effect that election officials are to treat all election materials as if they were in a period of canvassing,2 and that "Teams of one Democrat and one Republican must be present with ballots at all times of processing."

    Third, it is important to recognize that the companies implicated in the wrongdoing, Triad and its affiliates, are the leading suppliers of voting machines involving the counting of paper ballots and punch cards in the critical states of Ohio and Florida. Triad is controlled by the Rapp family, and its founder Tod A. Rapp has been a consistent contributor to Republican causes.4 A Triad affiliate, Psephos corporation, supplied the notorious butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, in the 2000 presidential election.

    Sincerely,

    John Conyers, Jr.

    Enclosures

    cc: The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.

 

 


    The New York Times published a report on the matter late Tuesday night:

    Go to Original

    Lawmaker Seeks Inquiry Into Ohio Vote
    By Tom Zeller Jr.
    The New York Times

    Wednesday 15 December 2004

    The ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, plans to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a county prosecutor in Ohio today to explore "inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering" in at least one and perhaps several Ohio counties.

    The request for an investigation, made in a letter that was also provided to The New York Times, includes accounts from at least two county employees, but is based largely on a sworn affidavit provided by the Hocking County deputy director of elections, Sherole Eaton.

    Among other things, Ms. Eaton says in her affidavit that a representative of Triad Governmental Systems, the Ohio firm that created and maintains the vote-counting software in dozens of Ohio counties, made several adjustments to the Hocking County tabulator last Friday, in advance of the state's recount, which is taking place this week.

    Ohio recount rules require that only 3 percent of a county's votes be tallied by hand, and typically one or more whole precincts are selected and combined to get the 3 percent sample. After the hand count, the sample is fed into the tabulator. If there is no discrepancy, the remaining ballots can be counted by the machine. Otherwise, a hand recount must be done for the whole county.

    Ms. Eaton contends that the Triad employee asked which precinct Hocking County planned to count as its representative 3 percent, and, upon being told, made further adjustments to the machine.

    County officials decided to use a different precinct when the recount was done yesterday. No discrepancies were found.

    "This is pretty outrageous," Mr. Conyers said. "We want to pursue it as vigorously as we can."

    But Brett Rapp, the president of Triad, said that although it would be unusual for an employee to ask about a specific precinct, preparing the machines for a recount was standard procedure and was done in all 41 counties where Triad handles vote counts. He added that he welcomed any investigation.

    "I've been doing this since 1985, and in all my experience this is the first time that we have had any complaints whatsoever," Mr. Rapp said.

 


    William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and international bestseller of two books - 'War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You To Know' and 'The Greatest Sedition is Silence.'