Editing Premier Election Solutions (section)

===Diebold and Kenneth Blackwell's conflict of interest===
Ohio State Senator [[Jeff Jacobson (Ohio)|Jeff Jacobson]], Republican, asked [[Ohio Secretary of State]] [[Ken Blackwell]], also a Republican, in July 2003 to disqualify Diebold's bid to supply voting machines for the state, after security problems were discovered in its software, but was refused.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm |title=Voting Machine Controversy |publisher=Commondreams.org |date=August 28, 2003 |access-date=November 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204034515/https://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm|archive-date=2012-02-04}}</ref> Blackwell had ordered Diebold [[touch screen]] voting machines, reversing an earlier decision by the state to purchase only [[optical scan]] voting machines which, unlike the touch screen devices, would leave a "paper trail" for recount purposes. Blackwell was found, in April 2006, to own 83 shares of Diebold stock, down from 178 shares purchased in January 2005, which he attributed to an unidentified financial manager at [[Credit Suisse First Boston]] who had violated his instructions to avoid potential [[conflict of interest]], without his knowledge.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vindy.com/news/2006/apr/04/improper-stock-buy-reported/ |title=Improper stock buy reported |publisher=Vindy.com |date=April 4, 2006 |access-date=November 22, 2011 |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013075112/http://www.vindy.com/news/2006/apr/04/improper-stock-buy-reported/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> When [[Cuyahoga County, Ohio|Cuyahoga county's]] primary was held on May 2, 2006, officials ordered the hand-counting of more than 18,000 paper ballots after Diebold's new optical scan machines produced inconsistent tabulations, leaving several local races in limbo for days and eventually resulting in a reversal of the outcome of one race for state representative. Blackwell ordered an investigation by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections; Ohio Democrats demanded that Blackwell, who was also the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006, [[recuse]] himself from the investigation due to conflicts of interest, but Blackwell did not do so.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192653/http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=285016&Category=13 Democrats want Blackwell to remove himself from election probe] Canton Repository, May 9, 2006</ref>

The Republican head of the [[Franklin County, Ohio]] Board of Elections, Matt Damschroder, said a Diebold contractor came to him and bragged of a $50,000 check he had written to Blackwell's "political interests."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dispatch.com/election.php?story=dispatch/2005/07/16/20050716-A1-00.html |title=Vendor's donation questioned |newspaper=Columbus Dispatch |date=July 16, 2005}}{{dead link|date=October 2014}}</ref>