Diebold opens contract

8/10/2005 7:25:10 AM
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

BY LEESHA FAULKNER

Diebold Elections Systems has voluntarily opened its contract with the state, and copies soon will be available to the public.

Wilson Carroll, Diebold's representative in Jackson, acknowledged late Tuesday that he had sent a letter to the Secretary of State's office that said Diebold waived its rights and authorized release of the contract.

Parts of the information were removed "because they involved trade secrets," Carroll said, "but the contract itself will be available."

The contract was sealed by a protective court order July 19 signed by Chancellor Stuart Robinson of Hinds County. Diebold had requested the sealing to protect trade secrets.

The Daily Journal learned of the court order after it requested a copy of the contract from the state Information Technology Services office.

However, learning about the proposals submitted to ITS for the voting machine project might prove as difficult as finding a sealed contract. ITS requires public records request to be made via the U.S. Postal Service.

Then the ITS staff has 14 working days to fulfill the request under the Mississippi Public Records Act. However, ITS will notify a third party in the case of a request for voting machine proposals and let the third party protect confidential information. That means the third party will have the opportunity to get a court order to block release of its information.