300,000,000 Reasons To Watch The Election Technology Sector

Speeches Are Silver, But Elections Are Gold!

This past week, the Pakistani Finance Minister held a press conference to announce that the process of introducing electoral reforms was in full swing & that impressive results could be expected any second...or year. I forget.

Anyway, the part of his statement that struck me as genuinely interesting was his comments concerning electronic voting machines, which, according to him, cost US$1,000 a piece. He claimed that Pakistan would need at least 300,000 of these machines for future free & fair elections. At the price he specified, this would mean an impressive contract worth a handsome US$300,000,000! It almost makes one wish one manufactured electronic voting machines...until one remembers that the sector is already populated with names so big that one probably wouldn't stand a chance of bagging the contract anyway (so no harm done if one isn't rich enough to own a business like that, right?).

However, it does make one wonder which firm is going to be the lucky winner of this lucrative order; especially considering that a number of such firms are also involved in census management, which is a very significant fact, considering that the Government is metaphorically gunning to zero the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) data collection by setting out to verify whether the extensive demographic information gathered by NADRA is accurate...or valueless. There was no indication of the lucky company in the Finance Minister's statement. Therefore, this week, The Green Town Investor offers the next best thing: An introduction to the Top 5 Election Technology Companies (in alphabetical order).

Dominion Voting Systems

Dominion Voting Systems is the world's largest electronic voting hardware company; it was established in Toronto, Canada 14 years ago (in 2002). It's equipment is used all over the world, but its biggest client is the US, where it now prefers to use the Dominion brand name; in other countries, it generally transacts business through its subsidiaries, Premier Election Solutions & Sequoia Voting Systems. These subsidiaries have suffered their share of image problems from the numerous controversies they have been embroiled in over the years. Some of the more prominent Premier controversies are O'Dell's Fundraising For G.W. Bush (2003), the RABA Source Code Flaw Analysis (2004) & the California Decertification (2004 & 2009). Similar Sequoia embarrassments would be the "Hanging Chads" Controversy (2000), the Avante Patent Infringement Lawsuit (2006), the California Decertification/Recertification (2007) & the Florida Touchscreen Replacement (2008).

Election Systems & Software

Election Systems & Software is a Nebraska-headquartered company & a subsidiary of the McCarthy Group, LLC. whose offerings include absentee voting-by-mail services, ballot-marking devices, ballot-on-demand printing services, direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines, electronic poll books, vote tabulators & voter registration & election management systems. The company maintains offices in the US & Canada, & claims a 60% market share in the US customer voting system installations market.

Hart InterCivic

Hart InterCivic is a privately-held multinational corporation that entered the Texas elections industry 104 years ago (in 1912) & is headquartered in Texas, US. Since July 2011, Hart's most influential shareholder is H.I.G. Capital; as well-known as H.I.G. Capital is, one of its shareholders commands even more popular appeal - Solamere Capital was founded by Taggart Romney (who also runs the firm) & Spencer Zwick (W. Mitt Romney's son & campaign finance chair respectively) & counts Mitt Romney himself, G. Scott Romney (Mitt's brother) & Ann Romney (Mitt's wife) as shareholders.

Shoup Voting Machine Corporation

The Shoup Voting Machine Corporation is probably the world's oldest manufacturer of voting machines, having been founded by Samuel R. Shoup in the US 111 years ago (in 1905). It has been a household name in US elections for over a century. But bad press can be fatal to any brand, regardless of how long it has been around. Shoup is currently only associated with the 2 criminal cases it had to face during the 1970s:

• In 1971, Shoup Voting Machine Corporation of Philadelphia, its subsidiary Southern Municipal Sales, Inc., Shoup President I.H. Myers, Shoup Executive VP M. Schott, et al, were indicted by a grand jury for bribery, mail fraud & conspiracy in the States of Florida & Texas.
• In 1972, former Louisiana State Senator C.H. Downs, public works director under Louisiana Governor J. McKeithen, was indicted by a grand jury for bribery in connection with his dealings with Shoup.

Smartmatic

Smartmatic is a privately-held multinational corporation that was originally incorporated on April 11, 2000 in Delaware, US, but is currently headquartered in London, UK. It maintains a noticeable presence in Brazil, Barbados, Estonia, Panama, Taiwan, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Venezuela, UAE, UK & USA. It specializes in 3 service categories:

• Elections Solutions (e-voting technology & SAES voting machines, hardware & software, & deployment services).
• Identity Management Solutions (registry & authentication devices, & biometric security).
• Solutions For Smart Cities (public safety, emergency systems, public transport & census platforms).

Conclusion

All of these companies are highly-respected names in the business. But as the controversies touched upon here & the election fiasco in Haripur (Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan) last year amply demonstrate, electronic voting machines don't really offer the 100% guarantee that US$300,000,000 should principally buy. Failing that, so many other guaranteed uses for the money spring to mind: Case in point, on June 21, 2013, the Finance Minister announced that the minimum wage in Pakistan had been increased to PKR10,000 (approximately US$100). US$300,000,000 could cover 1 round of wages for approximately 3 million Pakistani minimum wage-earners - &, by extension, their 3 million families!