Diebold sells election Machine division

http://www.businessinsider.com/diebold-sells-business-9-2009



Diebold Dumps Voting Machine Business For Peanuts
Preethi Dumpala|Sep. 4, 2009, 1:45 PM|1
PrintTags: Gadgets, Politics
Diebold Inc. has sold its voting machines business to Election Systems & Software, the WSJ reports.

The company sold its election systems business for $5 million. It had acquired the business in 2002 from Global Election Systems for $26 million.

At that time, Diebold, whose primary business is making ATMs, saw a huge potential in the electronic voting systems market. But reports of the machines' unreliable performance limited their adoption. (Such as this incident of someone unlocking a Diebold voting machine with a minibar key.)

"There were assumptions we made in that space that didn't materialize," a Diebold spokesperson said.

The sale now narrows the market to two major players: Election Systems and Software and Sequoia Voting Systems, the Journal points out.

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