By John Gideon on 10/6/2007, 6:00pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Ohio Co., West Virginia, and Belmont Co., Ohio, both use ES&S iVotronic voting machines. Belmont Co. was recently presented with a contract from ES&S for programming, licensing, and maintenance. That contract was for $50,000 annually. The county turned down the contract. Ohio Co. will have to begin paying for their programming beginning in 2008 (the state has been paying the costs so far). West Virginia has a contract with a private contractor who will be doing the work that ES&S would do but the cost is $107 per precinct. For Ohio Co. the cost will be a little over $4,000 annually. It is time that our election officials realize that their friends, the vendors, are only out to make as much money as possible before they are found out. They gouge the taxpayers for their unreliable, insecure voting machines and then continue to gouge them for service contracts. The vendors have gotten fat off of the post-HAVA buying frenzy; now they have to keep feeding themselves by selling over-priced service contracts. And the vendors are only friends as long as everything is going along fine. When there is a problem they refuse to accept responsibility and nearly always blame the county, poll workers, or voters.

That story, and today's other notable voting news, linked below as usual...

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