text: who makes the voting machines and is there a watchdog organization keeping an eye on them? i had a scary thought… was wondering if the corporations or individuals that are making these machines have contribute to political parties. it frightens me when the polls before the elections suggest the candidate that will win and at the end these predictions are wrong.   it also creeps me out when those who are loosing seem very reassured that they will win… and for the past elections… well, they did!. can some please give me a peace of mind?   a very concerned voter!!! most of the machines around our country, including my state, (i just got done voting on 1 of them) are made by diebold, which has a monopoly on voting machines.  http://www.diebold.com/dieboldes/  as for watchdog groups, there are so many of them for both parties that they kind of cancel each out and just make the elections more complicated, but i guess having them screw up the elections a little bit is better than having outright voter fraud by 1 or both parties.  if you are hoping for any non-partisan voting rights groups to protect the integrity of the voting system in place, forget about it, there is just too much corruption and politics involved these days to have a clean election.  recent studies and stats by polling companies bear out this fact.