Today the companies which provide US voting machines and related software are dominated by three entities: Dominion Voting Systems of Toronto Canada, SGO Smartmatic of the UK, and ES&S of Omaha. Two of the three are foreign companies. That in itself is ground for concern. But it goes far deeper.

The 2002 HAVA Act

Before the 2000 US election where a thin margin of defective paper ballots, the famous "hanging chads" count, determined the election of George W. Bush, the role of computerized voting machines was very limited. In 2002 that changed, as Congress passed a law seemingly designed to end the problem with punch card ballots. Private companies have run elections since then.