Taking One for Team Democracy — ‘Diebold Whistleblower’ Rebounds With Conviction

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Steve Heller can’t get a job. His wife is paying their bills. Oh, and he’s a felon still on probation. But he catches 40 winks for the problem.

“I feel okay about what I did. I don’t have guilt,” he told the Iconoclast in an exclusive interview. “I sleep well.”

No, this isn’t a commercial to a prescription sleep aid. This is a story about the man who single-handedly saved the rights of 50 million American voters.

Before Heller became known as the “Diebold Whistleblower,” he acted like any normal American would toward the election system.

“Occasionally a mayor might stuff the ballot box in some little town in Iowa, but for the most part, elections are clean and the people that get elected really do get the most votes,” Heller said.

Then, the 2000 presidential election happened. Under strange circumstances in Florida, a certain Texas Republican governor defeated a Democratic Vice President for a four-year seat in the White House. As a result, Heller became more interested in how elections were run and educated himself about election integrity.

Three years rolled by, and Heller was temping at a law firm in California. Part of his job as a word processor is handling clients’ documents. With 10 years’ experience, he knew what he was doing. And things were running smoothly. That is, until one January day when Heller came upon some strange documents from Diebold, the manufacturer of electronic voting machines.

“These documents were very explicit,” said Heller. “They had been for years breaking the law in California by using uncertified, illegal software in their voting machines.”

Normally, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. If the documents pertained to a scandal involving even the most minor of celebrity, Heller would have looked the other way and performed his job to the fullest. Law firms have the right to protect their clients, and a client is a client no matter how unlikeable s/he might be.

But these papers were a big deal, so Heller faced an ethical dilema: protect his client’s money-making ability or protect the voting integrity of his fellow Californians.

Heller knew the consequences all too well. His dad is lawyer who in semi-retirement still helps corporations from time to time. Two of this three brothers are lawyers, too.

“I understand and appreciate how very, very important attorney/client privilage is. The right of attorneys and clients to communicate in secret and the right of attorneys to keep work product secret are very important parts of our justice system,” he said.

In the end, Heller refused to keep quite, broke the law, went to trial, pleaded guilty for “unauthorized access to a computer” (a felony), paid $10,000 in restitution to the law firm, and was sentenced to three years of probation. Two other charges second-degree burglary and receiving stolen goods were dropped. In another year, he will be off probation.

Because of the incrim