November 10, 2004 — Diebold Election Systems Inc. Diebold Election Systems Inc. (Diebold) agreed to pay $2.6 Million in settlement of a lawsuit alleging violation of the California False Claims Act, filed by two private relators, James March and Bev Harris. The allegations of the case were that the Texas-based company provided false information to obtain payments from the State and Counties for its electronic voting equipment. More specifically, Diebold allegedly made false claims regarding the security, and State and Federal certification of its touchscreen machines and vote tabulation system. As a result of those false claims, Alameda and six other Counties spent taxpayer money to buy the equipment. In the case of Alameda, the County spent about $11.8 million on Diebold equipment, some of which failed during the March 2004 primary election. Alameda County recouped roughly $8.8 million from the state-provided VMBA funds. Mr. March and Ms. Harris are expected to receive up to 33% of the sums recovered as a reward for have filed claims under the California False Claims Act. See California Attorney General Press Release 11/10/04 |