The Wall Street Journal reports,
The company will take a $50 million loss on the sale of what is now called Premier Election Solutions to rival Election Systems & Software, which will pay $5 million for Diebold's election machine business.
The move effectively consolidates the electronic voting business in the hands of two privately held companies -- Election Systems & Software and Sequoia Voting Systems. Consolidation is not good news for elections watchers. In a broadcast interview, Candice Hoke of the Center for Election Integrity at Cleveland State University warns that the sale "creates tremendous power over our voting system and that concerns a number of people."
Even with the sale, Diebold still faces lawsuits from a number of local government.
In explaining the reasons for the sale, Diebold spokesman Mike Jacobson told NPR that structural problems in government were the root of the company's failure,
Ironically, the biggest player in the voting-machine business seems to have missed the defining characteristic of American civics - home rule.
Diebold Inc. (DBD) has sold its money-losing U.S. election-systems business, just seven years after acquiring it amid hopes of rising demand for voting technology upgrades in the wake of the 2000 presidential election fiasco.
The company will take a $50 million loss on the sale of what is now called Premier Election Solutions to rival Election Systems & Software, which will pay $5 million for Diebold's election machine business.
The move effectively consolidates the electronic voting business in the hands of two privately held companies -- Election Systems & Software and Sequoia Voting Systems. Consolidation is not good news for elections watchers. In a broadcast interview, Candice Hoke of the Center for Election Integrity at Cleveland State University warns that the sale "creates tremendous power over our voting system and that concerns a number of people."
Even with the sale, Diebold still faces lawsuits from a number of local government.
In explaining the reasons for the sale, Diebold spokesman Mike Jacobson told NPR that structural problems in government were the root of the company's failure,
When we acquired globally election systems in early 2002, we did so with a number of assumptions such as the development of consistent state and federal guidelines for voting systems. Many of those assumptions never materialized.
Ironically, the biggest player in the voting-machine business seems to have missed the defining characteristic of American civics - home rule.
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