When Vendors Run Elections
At the heart of the current voting machine mess is the reliance on corporations to run public elections. One voting machine company just went out of business, leaving some Indiana counties up a creek without a paddle:
“From the best we can tell they no longer exist, so we have no support for our equipment,” Thornburg said.
The Wisconsin company’s telephone is disconnected.
That company does not run any Iowa voting machines, but this one does and they drove one Arkansas election official to resign:
Election Systems and Software is the company providing the Ivotronics machines and related software.
“The reason I am leaving is the provider of the Ivotronics and related software lacks competency to make their equipment work timely and effectively. They … make a difficult job impossible to do,” said Selph.
“They can’t spell, meet deadlines, send documents to the right address or code elections correctly. They leave races off the ballot for us to correct, they can’t program their software to work and you have to hand add the results. And they don’t return phone calls,” Selph said.
“The ES&S people in Arkansas are capable but the people I have dealt with in the home office in Omaha prevent them from being effective. They are also mean-spirited when you try to get them to correct the numerous and recurring errors,” he said.
The wonders of the market economy. They are not for elections