September 4, 2009 - DIEBOLD SELLS VOTING UNIT

Paper: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Title: DIEBOLD SELLS VOTING UNIT
Date: September 4, 2009
Author: Associated Press

ATM maker Diebold has sold its much-criticized U.S. voting -machine business to a competitor, Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Neb. Diebold announced the sale of its Allen, Texas-based subsidiary Premier Election Solutions on Thursday. Diebold will get $5 million plus payments representing 70 percent of collections of the unit's accounts receivable as of Aug. 31. Diebold expects to recognize a pretax loss on the deal of $45 million to $55 million. Last year Premier generated 2.8 percent of Diebold's revenue. Diebold faced repeated criticism over the reliability and security of its touch-screen voting machines. In 2007, Diebold distanced itself from the election unit, renaming it Premier, allowing it to operate more independently and giving it a separate board of directors. Its touch-screen voting machines used in elections across the country often drew criticism that the technology could be manipulated.

Edition: Valley Final
Section: Business
Page: 2E
Record Number: 1217739
Copyright (c) 2009 San Jose Mercury News