Overview:
Based in North Canton, Ohio, Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions) produces the AccuVote line of direct recording electronic devices (DRE), VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) and optical scan machines.
Used For Voting:
According to Diebold, more than 130,000 of its electronic voting stations will be used in November 2006 mid-term elections. States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts (evalution), Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Controversy, Part 1:
Black Box Voting has revealed high-profile tests that illustrate a variety of hardware and software vulnerabilities. Accurate Voting compared Diebold with Sequoia Systems; this October 2006 report shows that Sequoia Systems are less vulnerable to security issues than Diebold. (pdf)
Controversy, Part 2:
In 2003, Diebold CEO and Republican fundraiser Walden O'Dell infamously pledged to "[help] Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president." In 2005, O'Dell resigned for "personal reasons," although there were rumors of securities-fraud litigation.