Financials Improve At Diebold; Moves To Install Upgraded Voting MachinesFinancials Improve At Diebold; Moves To Install Upgraded Voting Machines

Diebold Inc. reported record earnings and revenues for its fourth quarter of 2004, and the firm said it is confident it will meet the deadline set by the U.S. Congress to upgrade voting machines by 2006.

Reported Wednesday, the company said its election-systems business hurt its earnings because of costs incurred in California.

"Election systems issues related to concluding the settlement in California had a negative impact on earnings and margins," said chairman and chief executive officer Walden O'Dell in a statement. "I am extremely pleased with how our products performed during the U.S. presidential election in November and remain confident we have the right solutions to meet the U.S. Congress's deadline for replacing all punch-card and lever machines by 2006."

The California Secretary of State had filed a civil suit against Diebold, leading to a settlement in which Diebold agreed to pay $2.6 million to the state over the use of its election voting machines before the November election.

While no major problems were reported with voting machines in the November election, many election observers still complain that some machines don't provide a paper trail or utilize source code that is publicly available.

Diebold said its net revenue for the quarter was $717.2 million and $2.38 billion for the year. Net cash for the quarter was $160.7 million for the quarter and $232.6 million for the year.