With the election almost certainly coming down to a handful of votes in Ohio, news that the electronic voting machines used there have deep ties to the Romney family is especially troubling. This gets a little complicated but (according to Credo Action): “The company Hart Intercivic (which makes the machines) is majority owned by H.I.G. Capital which controls two of the five seats on the Hart Intercivic board. An investment fund with deep ties to the Romney family and the Mitt Romney for president campaign, H.I.G. Capital was founded by Tony Tamer, a major bundler for the Romney campaign, and it is one of the largest partners of Solamere Capital, an investment fund founded by Tagg Romney and Spencer Zwick, Mitt Romney’s chief fundraiser from the 2008 presidential campaign. This makes the Romney family part owner of the voting machine company, through it’s interest in H.I.G. Capital.”

In addition to that, A 2007 study conducted by Ohio’s Secretary of State showed that Hart Intercivic’s touch screen voting machines could be easily corrupted. The New York Times reported: “At polling stations, teams working on the study were able to pick locks to access memory cards and use hand-held devices to plug false vote counts into machines. At boards of election, they were able to introduce malignant software into servers.”

What’s more, three other H.I.G. Capital directors are major fundraisers for the Romney campaign, and H.I.G. Capital is the 11th largest contributor to the Mitt Romney campaign. And as if the ties between Tagg Romney’s Solamere, Romney contributors at H.I.G. Capital, and Hart Intercivic weren’t astonishing enough, two members of Hart Intercivic’s 5-member board of directors made direct contributions to the Romney campaign. That’s right. Directors of the company that makes touchscreen voting machines that could decide the presidential election in Ohio, have made contributions to the Mitt Romney for President campaign.

There’s a petition you can sign that reads: “The Department of Justice must launch an immediate investigation into Hart Intercivic touch screen voting machines in Ohio, and take all actions necessary to block Republicans from stealing the 2012 presidential election with voting machines tied to the Romney family and campaign.” You can sign it here, although it feels a little too late for a full-scale investigation.

Still, knowing these facts might give us SOME leverage when the Republicans hold the election hostage by demanding recounts in Ohio. Then again, knowledge of voting fraud didn’t help us in Florida in 2000 so….