Diebold is back as a bidder in North Carolina. According to the
AP they are amongst three companies trying to win the final bid for
supplying election equipment. Diebold is still not in the clear when it comes to
the source code.
Keith Long, who is advising the elections board with the voting equipment
changes, said after talking this week with the three winning bidders that
“none of them have the source code for all of their software they use.”Computer experts still will be able to review any changes the machine
manufacturer has made to the outside software to check if those revisions
may have caused the problem, Long said.
The question still remains as to what Diebold is possibly hiding in their
code. For something as vital as our voting, companies should develop all their
software in house and not use commercially available software. Considering the
track record of Diebold and the other documented failures of these machines,
North Carolina could end up wasting money if they choose the company only to
experience failures and have to find a new supplier.