with attribution to Rebecca Mercuri:
Colleagues,
I am writing to draw your attention to the Avante lawsuit that stands
poised to derail much of the VVPAT legislation that many have worked so
hard to put in place for the upcoming election cycles. In particular,
the Avante filing includes a request for damages, injunctive relief, a
jury trial, and asks that the Court enter a judgment that includes
(among other requested remedies):
1) Permanently enjoining the sale of all infringing equipment produced
by Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S;
2) Recalling all infringing equipment;
3) Destroying or delivering to Avante the infringing equipment;
4) Awarding infringement damages to Avante including treble damages for
willful infringement.
http://www.votetrustusa.org/pdfs/avante/avante_complaint.pdf
http://www.votetrustusa.org/pdfs/avante/avante_complaint_exhibit_a.pdf
http://www.votetrustusa.org/pdfs/avante/avante_complaint_exhibit_b.pdf
The suit alleges that the infringements include both DREs and Opscan
equipment. Specifically mentioned are the Diebold AccuVote TS, AccuVote
TSX and AccuVote OS, the Sequoia AVC Edge, VeriVote Printer, AVC
Advantage, Optical Scan 400C and Optech Insight, and the ES&S iVotronic,
iVotronic LS, Real Time Audit Log, AutoMARK, Model 100 Precinct Ballot
Counter and the Model 650 Central Ballot Counter.
The ramifications of this lawsuit are such that VVPATs may not be
available in time to comply with the state laws, that the defendant
vendors may allow this lawsuit to further delay their certification
processes for the add-on ballot printers or other updated equipment, and
that municipalities might need to prepare for the possibility that their
opscan and DRE equipment may be decommissioned. I hope that you will
take the time to digest and disseminate this important information. If
further details are needed, I am available for comment.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Mercuri
mercuri (at) acm (dot) org
www.notablesoftware.com
