Voting Station

Diebold

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Corporation

The Resume

    (August 1859- )
    Born in Cincinnati, Ohio
    Founded as a manufacturer of safes and vaults
    Largest US manufacturer of ATMs
    Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold Election Systems) division produces electronic voting machines
    Revenues of $2.6 billion (2006)
    Over 17,000 employees

Why Diebold might be annoying:

    Their touchscreen voting machines do not provide a paper trail for recounts.
    After officials in Maryland asked that the machines be made capable of printing receipts, an internal company memo declared, 'As a business, I hope we're smart enough to charge them up the wazoo.'
    Computer scientists from Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon found that the voting machine software can be updated without a pass code or other security.
    They paid $2.6 million to settle a suit by California charging the company with providing false information about the voting machines' security and reliability.
    CEO Warren O'Dell declared that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President [George W. Bush].'
    When Ohio indeed went to Bush, despite exit polls showing John Kerry in the lead, it was a conspiracy theorist's wet dream.
    O'Dell resigned after the company was investigated on charges of security fraud and insider trading (2005).

Why Diebold might not be annoying:

    Their safes gained a reputation for quality when several survived the great Chicago fire with their contents intact (1871).
    'Untouchable' Eliot Ness served as chairman of the board (1944-51).
    They won the contract from the National Archives to provide security for the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (2001).
    The company considered divesting itself of the voting machine division because it was 'widely seen as tarnishing the company's reputation.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 44 Votes: 61.36% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 34 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 30 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 46 Votes: 58.70% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 47 Votes: 70.21% Annoying