Yesterday, I read in the Knoxville News Sentinel that Diebold, ES&S and Hart were being considered in both Knox and Blount counties to replace aging equipment:
http://www3.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4443897,00.html (registration required) and felt deflated.
Today, with the help of Botany, I sent mainstream media links to both our Elections Administrator Greg MacKay and to the reporter, Michael Silence, who has been covering this story.
I expected that maybe they hadn't heard of these problems, but, lo and behold, MacKay had done his research!
Here's what he said back to me via email:
I have read all of this. For that reason and others I will not be recommending Diebold.
We have to chose from three companies that have been certified by the State Election Commission. They are Diebold, ESS and Hart Intercivic.
I am leaning toward Hart. They have security measures in place that were recommended by the Government Accounting Office(GAO) when they did a report last year for the Congress. The Hart E-Slate encrypts each cast ballot, has an encrypted audit log and has a paper trail.I don't know much about Hart, and told him so in my email. I just know that I've not heard the complaints about them, which is a good thing.
I'll cross post on the regular boards so that people know that the word is getting out about Diebold and ES&S.