Diebold Election Systems has launched an "outreach campaign" to educate Maryland voters on how to use its electronic voting machines, David Bear, a DES spokesperson, told O’Dwyer’s.

He dismissed an Associated Press characterization of the campaign as a "PR blitz" intended to build support to overcome negative publicity about security flaws in the Diebold machines.

Bear said the five-year $1M campaign is mandated under the "Help America Vote Act of 2002." The outlay is part of the $55 million the state is paying Diebold to manufacture 16,000 touch screen computer terminals.

The campaign, which is handled by Compliance Research Group in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., involves billboards, radio and TV commercials, a website, distribution of more than 1.5 million pamphlets/brochures, and demonstrations about how to use the machine. "We found that people are much more acceptable about electronic voting if they get to touch the screen beforehand," said Bear. Voters also can log onto www.mdvotes.org and cast a sample ballot to see how the system works.

The terminals will be used throughout Maryland starting with the March 2 primary. Baltimore uses electronic machines made by a different company.

The Diebold machines gained national attention after Avi Rubin, an associate computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University, published a report saying the machines were rife with security flaws.

Some critics fear that Diebold, which is based in North Canton, Ohio, is not a disinterested party in the upcoming Presidential elections, pointing out the close ties that CEO Walden O’Dell has with the Republican party.

O’Dell is a Bush "pioneer," meaning that he collected a minimum $100K in political donations for the president. He also made the infamous remark about delivering Ohio’s electoral votes to the president, igniting fuel for conspiracy theorists. O’Dell’s remark, however, was referring to his fund-raising savvy.

Dix & Eaton is Diebold’s PR firm.