(US) 12/09 - IT'S OFFICIAL: US DEPT. ...

Author Message   Bev Harris Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 10933 Registered: 12-2004 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 1 (A keeper?) Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 4:04 pm:        Black Box Voting lodged a formal 21-page complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Justice in September, 2009 regarding the acquisition of Diebold's elections division by ES&S, on the grounds that the deal violates the Clayton Act. The United States Dept. of Justice has now formally opened an investigation. Here is our complaint: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBV-AntiTrust-Letter.pdf (1100 KB) In addition, we provided the USDOJ with legal citations indicating that acquisitions which violate antitrust laws can be rolled back up to two years after the acquisition goes through. Our complaint provided hard-to-obtain details on jurisdiction by jurisdiction voting machine purchases, proving overconcentration of the industry with the Herfindahl Index, used by the USDOJ to ascertain whether acquisitions create an anticompetitive marketplace. We also documented numerous specific instances of past anti-competitive behavior and unfair practices. ES&S officials lied to county election officials, claiming the deal wasn't subject to anti-trust laws because it was too small. While it did fly under the radar because the dollar amount evaded an automatic hold on the acquisition, the provision invoking a hold does not have any impact on whether the deal is, ultimately, a violation of anti-trust laws. Black Box Voting received a letter from the US Dept. of Justice last month indicating that they were paying attention to our complaint, and indicating intent to investigate providing that their initial inquiries corroborated the anti-competitive practices. (And how could they not?) Reuters News just announced that the US DoJ and 14 individual states have launched formal antitrust investigations into the acquisition of Diebold's Premier Election Solutions by Election Systems & Software (ES&S). Here is the article: Reuters - Dec. 19, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1925508020091219?type=marketsNews U.S. opens probe of Diebold unit sale CHICAGO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice and 14 states have opened investigations into the sale of Diebold Inc's (DBD.N) voting machines business to Election Systems & Software that could lead to the unwinding of the September sale, the New York Post said on Saturday. The deal was too small to require government approval at the time, but it gave ES&S a 70 percent share of the voting machine market, the newspaper said. However, now the Justice Department could file a lawsuit to unwind the deal and New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer was planning to hold hearings on the matter next month, the paper said, citing a source with direct knowledge of the process who was not identified. Diebold spokesman Michael Jacobsen said in an email that the company was cooperating with the Justice Department review of the sale. A department spokeswoman declined to comment and ES&S could not be reached. Critics are concerned ES&S will raise prices on voting machines and have little incentive to improve their products, making it harder for states and cities to run efficient elections, the newspaper said. On Sept. 1, Diebold, known for its automated teller machines, sold its U.S. voting machine business, which represented almost 3 percent of the company's 2008 revenue, to ES&S for $5 million in cash plus future cash payments. Would the investigations have proceeded without the formal complaint by Black Box Voting? One would hope so. But our research consummated seven years of investigation and field work, and provided crucial evidence regarding market delineation in over 5,000 elections jurisdictions -- information that is exceptionally difficult to produce with precision and links to the dozens of official source documents needed (some of which were only available because we had earlier obtained them through freedom of information requests). If -- when -- the deal is killed, authorities can seek restitution from the voting machine companies for the cost of the investigation and their legal work, and they can require that ES&S divest itself of the Diebold purchase.   Bev Harris Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 10951 Registered: 12-2004 Best of Black Box? N/A Votes: 0 (A keeper?) Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 1:29 pm:        Thanks for the great discussion; have archived the discussion posts to their permanent location in the US - National section, where you can carry on with the discussion if you like, at this link: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/70328/80805.html

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