BlackBoxVoting to file AntiTrust complaint re: ES&S/Diebold(Premier) merger‏

Diebold/Premier Election Systems is being purchased by Election Systems & Software (ES&S). According to a Black Box Voting source within the companies, there will be a conference call among key people at the companies within the next couple hours.

An ES&S/Diebold-Premier acquisition would consolidate most U.S. voting under one privately held manufacturer. And it's not just the concealed vote-counting; these companies now also produce polling place check-in software (electronic pollbooks), voter registration software and vote-by-mail authentication software.

You can discuss this here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/80622.html
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http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-profile.cgi?ac... )

ES&S attempted to consolidate the electronic voting industry in 1997 with a purchase of Business Records Corporation (BRC), but the purchase was blocked by the US Security and Exchange Commission on antitrust grounds, and the acquisition of BRC was split between ES&S and Sequoia Voting Systems.

Here is a press release from Diebold/Premier confirming the acquisition:
http://www.premierelections.com/news_room/press_releases/ESS...

We will post the Black Box Voting complaint to the SEC at http://www.blackboxvoting.org later today.

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