After years of problems with the state's touch-screen voting system, Maryland has filed a claim to recover $8.5 million from the maker of the machines, Premier Election Solutions, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced yesterday.
The claim seeks costs the state incurred to correct security gaps in the voting system that were uncovered several years ago by independent investigations. The state has paid $90 million under a contract with Premier, formerly known as Diebold, since 2001. During that time, the two parties have had a sometimes-rocky relationship as hitches in the voting system surfaced.
"Under basic contract law, this is money that should be paid by Diebold or its successor and not by the taxpayers," Gansler said in an interview. "This is sort of the final chapter of the touch-screen machines that we've had issues with in Maryland since we've gotten them."
Last year, Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly decided to eventually dump the touch-screen equipment and instead move toward buying new optical-scan machines, which read paper ballots filled in by voters with pencil or pen and allow for a manual recount. The new system is expected to cost about $20 million.
Premier President Dave Byrd said in a statement that the state's claim appears to be based on "inaccurate and unfounded assumptions." He also said the 2008 election, in which Premier's machines were used, was one of the "smoothest" in the state's history, culminating what he called a "seven-year track record of success."
The "claim may be an attempt to retroactively change the rules of the contracts, but it does not change or reflect the actual record of successful performance," Byrd said.
State officials contend, however, that the November election came off with few glitches precisely because they had spent so much money on upgrades and technical fixes. According to the claim, the state Board of Elections has implemented, largely at its own expense, measures to correct flaws uncovered by assessments ordered by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and by the General Assembly.
Premier and the state haven't always been on the outs. After warnings about security vulnerabilities from three computer experts - Johns Hopkins University professor Avi Rubin and the two hired by the state - a voter advocacy group sued in 2004. The group alleged that the state should not have certified Premier's machines for use in elections. The state defended Premier at the time, and won.
