The Security Mentor

Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk, state Elections Director Michael Cragun, and Diebold Election Systems are locked in conflict over Diebold voting machines. The gist is that Funk saw some irregularities in the machines when they were delivered and hired an independent investigation. Diebold demanded $40,000 (for two machines which are low-end PCs) to do a warranty inspection. Funk's superiors blamed him.

So what was the real story? We don't know yet. There is an incomplete and occasionally cryptic report on the Emery County machines at Black Box Voting. Sample quotes:

The remaining machines showed several defects -- crooked paper feeds that jam, memory card bay doors that wouldn't close, parts getting stuck, coming loose, falling off.

and

Funk's concerns escalated when he heard a particularly unusual statement by Diebold sales rep Dana LaTour.

"Some of you are going to hate my guts on Election Day," she said to the assembly of elections officials. Later, another Diebold representative named Drew was asked what LaTour meant when she said "Some of you are going to hate my guts..."

"We're going to have problems on Election Day, and we're just going to have to work through them," he said.