Diebold To Review eVoting Unit

The Associated Press reports that new Diebold CEO Thomas Swidarski plans to reduce costs by $100 million over three years and part of that plan involves examining each business with a "critical eye... If any of the pieces don't fit or any of the pieces don't add the value we think is associated with that risk, then we'll make appropriate decisions at that point." The company reported a 76 percent decline in fourth quarter earnings, despite a 15 percent increase in sales. It is also the target of a class action lawsuit relating to stock valuation.

When former CEO Walden O'Dell left the company in December, he was given a $3 million termination package, according to the Canton (OH) Repository. In addition, in 2004, O'Dell received $720,000 in base pay and a $470,000 bonus, slightly more than half of his "bonus opportunity."

Diebold is the country's largest manufacturer of electronic voting equipment. Its touch-screen voting machines can be found in all or parts of Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, and Utah. It has also been plagued with problems and allegations of possible problems.

And ElectionLine reports (pdf) that almost half the states failed to meet one or most of the 1 January 2006 provisions of the 2001 Help America Vote Act.

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