Four election boards join lawsuit against voting machine maker  (OH)

Lynn Hulsey    Dayton Daily News    06 August 2008

DAYTON — Four area county boards of elections are parties to a breach of contract lawsuit counterclaim filed by the Ohio Secretary of State Wednesday, Aug. 6, against the maker of touch-screen electronic voting machines.

Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Butler counties are all parties to the lawsuit filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Premier Elections Systems, said Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

She said a flaw in the machines can cause votes to not be counted. Premier has blamed the problem on virus protection software and issued an advisory in May to boards of elections, Brunner said. The problem occurred three times in Montgomery County, and was caught, so the votes were counted, said Steve Harsman, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. He said officials thought it was human error and did not realize that there was a problem with software.

Butler County also had problems, and alerted the company and Brunner. Greene County did find a problem but officials there still believe it was human error, said Llyn McCoy, deputy director.

The lawsuit is the state's response to the company's June lawsuit against Cuyahoga County, which had quit using the company's machines because of problems.