DIEBOLD INC. Exec stands by touch-screen system despite controversy

A California panel says the machines performed poorly in the primary.
NORTH CANTON (AP) -- The chairman of Diebold Inc. has expressed confidence in the company's electronic voting systems, even with the possibility that California may decertify about 15,000 touch-screen machines made by subsidiary Diebold Election Systems.
"We will help in California if we are allowed. If we are not, we won't," Walden W. O'Dell said. "I think whatever goes on in California is separate from what goes on in other states. Each state will make their own decisions."
O'Dell, who is also chief executive officer, told reporters after an annual shareholders meeting Thursday that the company is not considering getting out of the elections business. Diebold is best known for making automated teller machines and security equipment.
California's Voting Systems and Procedures Panel said Diebold has performed poorly and its machines malfunctioned in the state's March 2 primary election, turning away many voters.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley expects to make a final decision by next Friday.
Panel members also recommended that a report detailing Diebold's failings should be forwarded to the attorney general's office for consideration of civil and criminal charges against the company.
Shareholders meeting
About 150 shareholders attended Diebold's annual meeting Thursday. None raised questions about Diebold's election systems.
O'Dell spoke briefly during the meeting about the systems, which have drawn nationwide scrutiny. He said the North Canton-based company remains confident that the machines are safe and secure.
Diebold shares fell $1.10 to close Thursday at $48.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.
About 35 people concerned about voting security protested outside the meeting. Three met with O'Dell before the shareholders meeting and asked him to agree to produce voter verified receipt printers to touch-screen voting machines.
O'Dell said the company would do so when federal and state governments require them in specifications.
McKinney, Texas-based Diebold Election Systems has been in business since 2002 and accounted for 5 percent of Diebold's sales last year. It put about 56,000 touch screens in service for the March 2 Super Tuesday primary, mostly in Maryland, Georgia and California.
"Nothing will change our path here. This country has a problem," O'Dell said, referring to the 2000 presidential election fiasco. "We're going to help."
Months-long protest
The demonstrators who showed up in a parking lot outside of where the annual meeting took place have protested the machines for the past few months. They brought three large red helium balloons with peace signs on them that lifted a large banner with the words "Diebold Devours Democracy."
"What we are looking for from Diebold is an admission that their technology doesn't work and that they have to fix it by providing voter verified paper ballots to restore openness, transparency and voter confidence," said Mark Floegel, an organizer of True Majority's "The Computer Ate My Vote" campaign.