Federal prosecutors are investigating the Board of Elections' $50 million contract with ES&S, a Nebraska company contracted to supply the city with its first electronic voting machines. The machines were due to be set up by the September primaries, but may not be in place due to the probe. The Post reports that US Attorney Preet Bharara has served subpoenas to determine if the Board of Elections was bribed to choose ES&S over Dominion Voting of Toronto.

The suspicion comes after the indictment of Anthony Mangone, a lawyer who allegedly bribed Sandy Annabl, a member of Yonkers city council, to change her vote on development projects. Mangone was hired as a lobbyist for ES&S, and was arrested on January 6th, the day after the BOE voted 6-1 on ES&S. The competition was tight between the two voting machine suppliers, both having similar systems that allowed voters to fill out an SAT-style bubble sheet and scan it into a computer. However, evaluators at the Board of Elections graded each machine, and gave ES&S 3,417 points over Dominion's 3,395. So maybe they just chose the better machine?

An ES&S spokesman told the Post that nobody at the company had been subpoenaed, and they didn't know anything about the probe. ES&S' media contact wasn't answering when we called, but their press release states that they've "worked for eight years to understand the needs and technical requirements of New York voters and have tailored our voting system to meet them. We look forward to working with the Board of Elections to introduce this proven, 2010 state‐of‐the‐art technology and ultimately to enhance the way the city conducts its elections.” Bribery or not, will it get more people to the polls?