BALTIMORE (April 22, 2011) — Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler on Wednesday announced the settlement of a claim against Premier Elections Solutions, formerly known as Diebold. The settlement, negotiated by the Office of Attorney General, will be worth more than $3 million to the State.
In 2008, the Attorney General, on behalf of the State Board of Elections, brought a claim against Diebold to recoup costs that the State incurred to remedy security issues that had arisen with the Diebold machines.
“The problems with the Diebold machines were clearly evident during the 2006 election,” said Attorney General Gansler. “When I took office, I began to examine ways to hold the company accountable for its shortcomings. Today, I am proud that my office was able to reach this settlement and save the State of Maryland millions of dollars.”
The settlement includes the following terms:
— Beginning, July 1, Premier waives all license fees for five years for the EZ Roster software and the EPIC software that the Board of Elections uses;
— Beginning July 1, Premier waives all license fees for three years for the GEMS software and the Ballot Station software that the Board of Elections uses;
— Beginning July 1, Premier waives all fees for three years for software and maintenance support services for the EZ Roster and EPIC software, in an amount not to exceed 500 hours per year.
— Premier will provide, at no cost to the State, 300 of its TSX voting machines which the Board of Elections intends to use to upload files from the direct recording electronic voting system. These machines upload at a much faster rate than the machines that the Board of Elections currently uses for this process.
— The Board of Elections will release $2.9 million of the approximately $3.6 million that the Board of Elections has retained, with $696,870.53 being retained by the State.
Attorney General Gansler thanked Assistant Attorney General Gansler Douglas Carrey-Beaver for his work on the case.
Source: Office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler