Diebold critics keep up protest of voting machine pick
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Julie Carr Smyth   Cleveland Plain Dealer

With less than a month to go before another general election, a determined core of protesters refuses to relent on the perceived risks of Diebold Election Systems' voting machines.

They are expected to continue to barrage Cuyahoga County elections officials with questions about the county's chosen machine maker at a hearing Monday though they are fighting a decision that has already been made.
They don't expect to be welcomed.

"Be prepared to be demeaned, ridiculed and criticized," activist and Case Western Reserve University mathematics lecturer Victoria Lovegren warned in an e-mail to fellow Diebold critics. "Be prepared to be told that you are impugning the integrity of the board. Be prepared to be asked to Prove It!' "

Cynicism about the safety and security of new voting technology seethes most intensely on the Internet, where rumors are vetted daily on watchdog Web sites and political blogs. A whistleblower dubbed "Dieb-Throat" has even emerged in recent weeks with damaging allegations said to stem from internal knowledge of Diebold's voting subsidiary.

Ohio is replacing all of its punch-card and lever machines with more-modern technology in the wake of legislation passed after the controversial 2000 presidential election. A handful of counties will be ready this fall, but most will debut their new technology mostly made by Diebold in 2006.

Further fueling the burgeoning "voter advocacy" or "voter rights" movement is that many of the conspiracy theories have a tantalizing, if partial, basis in fact.

Former Diebold lobbyist Pat Gallina provides the latest example.

Gallina, the central figure in a short-lived bribery flap involving Diebold's negotiations in Franklin County, confirmed in a recent interview that key elements of the story are true. Yes, he said, he wrote a check for $10,000 to the Franklin County Republican Party in the office of county elections chief Matt Damschroder. And, yes, he asked Damschroder whom to make the check out to.

But Gallina, a longtime Republican consultant, said that Damschroder omitted important details of the story he told the press in July and sought to do political damage to Secretary of State Ken Blackwell with other false allegations.

Among the omissions, Gallina said, was that Damschroder and county party officials had solicited the donation.