BLACKWELL HALTS DEPLOYMENT OF DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES FOR 2004
Friday, July 16, 2004
COLUMBUS - Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell today halted deployment of Diebold Election Systems' electronic
voting devices in Ohio for the 2004 General Election. The decision
is based on preliminary findings from the secretary of state's second
round of security testing conducted by Compuware Corporation showing
the existence of previously identified, but yet unresolved security issues.
Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties had selected to use new Diebold
equipment this November. Those counties will use their current voting
devices in 2004.
"As I made clear last year, I will not place these voting devices
before Ohio's voters until identified risks are corrected," Blackwell
said. "Diebold Election Systems has successfully addressed many,
but not all, of the problems that were identified in our first security
review. The lack of comprehensive resolution prevents me from giving
county boards of elections a green light for this November.
"I look forward to working with Diebold Election Systems and our
other qualified election system vendors as they continue to bolster security
and develop voting devices that meet Ohio's requirement for voter-verifiable
paper audit trails."
In December 2003, Secretary Blackwell released results from two comprehensive
examinations identifying 57 potential security risks within the software
and hardware of the voting devices offered by Ohio's qualified electronic
voting systems vendors: Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and
Software, Hart Intercivic, and Sequoia Voting Systems. He ordered the
voting machine manufacturers to resolve all of the identified issues
or face a halt in deployment.
Diebold Election Systems was the only vendor to submit revised voting
software and hardware for retesting.
Compuware Corporation, based in Detroit, conducted the thorough technical
analysis of each of the electronic voting device vendors' software and
hardware. InfoSENTRY, based in Raleigh, NC, conducted on-site vendor
inspections and interviews to assess voting system vendors' security
plans, procedures and processes.
A comprehensive report from Compuware detailing the second round of
security reviews will be available at the secretary of state website
www.sos.state.oh.us when the assessment is complete.
For more information, contact Carlo LoParo at (614) 752-8110.
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