RubberBuzz || Akron Unleashed: Blackwell Getting Sued

5.25.2005

Blackwell Getting Sued

Summit County is on board with a lawsuit against Secretary Ken Blackwell claiming that Blackwell's deadline to pick new voting equipment eliminates competition for Diebold and doesn't give counties enough time to make sure they're making the right decision for their constituents.

The Summit County Board of Elections is joining a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell over the deadline for choosing a new voting system.

The board voted 3-0 on Tuesday to become a party in the suit filed this month by Election Systems & Software Inc. The Nebraska-based voting-machine maker contends that deadlines established by Blackwell for election boards in Ohio's counties to choose new voting systems and for systems to win state certification are arbitrary and eliminate all vendors except Green-based Diebold Co.

And the county is also looking at other ways to screw... I mean, sue Ken Blackwell.

[T]he Summit board is exploring a lawsuit of its own against Blackwell over the amount of federal money the county will receive to buy a new voting system.[...]

Under the law, every county has been allotted a sum to buy new voting systems; the allocation is based on the number of voters in the county. Summit County's allocation has been set at about $5.3 million. However, if the county chooses an optical-scan system rather than a touch-screen system, the equipment purchase is expected to cost only about $2.5 million.

The election board wants to be sure that it gets to keep the difference.

And they better use the difference to buy some more "I voted today" stickers. I didn't get one last time I voted and it ticked me off.

The BJ :: Summit joins elections suit

(joe :: Blackwell Getting Sued)

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