Ohio’s Electronic Voting Problem

Ohio’s Secretary of State, Jennifer Brenner, is taking Premier Election Solutions (previously known as Diebold) to court. She’s suing the firm, seeking unspecified damages for breach of contract and fraud.

According to the suit, Premier provided faulty software that caused 11 counties to lose votes. Premier was also already involved in a legal suit with one particular Ohio county — Cuyahoga. That county’s election officials decided to mothball $22 million in Premier machines because of ongoing problems with counts. Premier actually instigated that suit, looking for a declaratory judgment that the company had met its obligations, before Cuyahoga County had decided on legal action.

Premier’s own analysis claims that human error is at fault, along with a glitch caused by anti-virus software. The state says, however, that Premier had certified the equipment after the anti-virus program was installed.

Brunner advocates that Ohio goes back to paper ballots, combined with optical scanners. There’s no way to make the switch before November, however. It’s practically guaranteed that Ohio will have problems with the general election, despite all announcements that election officials will work hard to correct any problems that arise.

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