Reality check on Hart-Intercivic voting machine company and its owndership by Romney partisans
As noted in other posts, H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a private equity firm stuffed full of Romney croniesm bought voting machine company Hart-Intercivic in July 2011. This has has raised the old spectre of dodgy computer code and stolen elections. A few issues to keep in mind going forward:
1) According to the Ohio SoS site, H-I equipment is only used in two counties, Williams and Hamilton. I am trying to find out which counties use H-I equipment in Colorado.
2) Despite much discussion about "rigging" an election, the easiest way to have an effect on an election is to control the number and deployment of functional voting machines. Keep replacement/backup equipment in short supply, then controlling what precinct gets replacements is easier to manage than diddling the code. Also, much harder to prove tampering short of a whistleblower or a confession.
3) No reasonable person can view control of a voting machine company by political partisans as anything short of improper.
4) The quickest way to destroy faith in elections is to have situations like this.
5) Until voting machines are afforded that same level of security as slot machines in Las Vegas, we cannot trust them without a LOT of scrutiny.
6) No voting process which lacks a tangible ballot is acceptable.
Links:
Ownership of Hart-Intercivic:
http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/10/10/former-bain-employees-own-voting-machine-company-used-in-swing-states/
Ohio SoS:
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Upload/elections/votingsystems.aspx?page=25056
Colorado relaxing voting machine security:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/colorado-voting-machine-security
And an oldie from my old site on how Hart-Intercivic organized a secret meeting to fight e-voting activists and undermine independent machine certification:
http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/177-Secret-meeting-of-the-Black-Box-Yakuza.html
Cross posted to Politics 2012
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