N Carolina, feds end look into voting-machine ownership

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal authorities found nothing troubling about voting-machine makers largely owned by private equity firms that don’t disclose their investors, so North Carolina elections officials are certifying which can do business in the state.

The State Board of Elections said Tuesday it could decide this weekend which of three companies meets its criteria.

After the state board’s demand , all three private companies disclosed their executives and equity funds as chief owners, but didn’t detail who invested in those funds. Maryland officials learned last year that a company maintaining that state’s election infrastructure was financed by a venture fund whose largest backer is a Russian oligarch.

State officials say the Department of Homeland Security found no foreign ownership concerns. A DHS spokeswoman didn’t respond when asked what the agency investigated.