De La Rue in the spotlight
BRITAIN'S De La Rue is hoping the Oily Finger does not become the next Hanging Chad if lawyers have to pore over the millions of votes cast in the US Presidential election.
It owns US-based Sequoia Voting Systems, which supplied 58,000 touch-screen voting terminals across Nevada, California, New Jersey and New Mexico, which was expected to be one of the tightest races of the campaign.
The run-up to the Bush-Kerry battle has been dominated by concerns about touch-screen technology, the lack of a paper trail and vulnerability to manipulation from hackers on the outside. More than 60 Sequoia machines used in a September primary in the little-known Snohomish County north of Seattle had to be withdrawn after 'operational issues'.
Some were simply not plugged in properly but there were also problems caused by oily-finger residue on smart cards used to activate the machines.
A De La Rue spokesman said: 'We believe there will be no significant issues with our terminals - touch wood.' Sequoia is one of three firms that dominate the US touch-screen market but, despite a surge in sales, falling margins meant it reported a £1.9m operating loss in the year to March.
It is still supplying ballot cards to some Florida counties, including Palm Beach where the term Hanging Chad was coined in 2000 after a manual recount of punch cards due to problems with the automated voting system which left votes hard to read. More than $3bn (£1.6bn) of federal funding was made available to states to help them upgrade their systems this time.
US election special
