HAVA and VOTING ISSUESResolution for public hearing February 6, 2008 at 6 PM, Ulster County office Bldg:http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/resolution-archives/2007/433-07.pdf Feb 5, 2008 Daily Freeman - Hearing focus is voting machine law Ulster County Legislators in Friend of Court appeal on Voting Machines: Legislators, Susan Zimet, D-New Paltz and Gary Bischoff, D-Saugerties joined in the submission. In Dutchess County, Legislator Joel Tyner submitted a brief. See the Press Release Read Andi Novick's explanation of the suit to be filed in the US vs NYS BOE and NYS Declaration of Voting Principles a well written piece on voting by Mary Ann Gould Gary's side by side analysis of Voting Machines Sign the Hand Count Every Vote Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/hndcount Sign the Hand Count Every Vote Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/hndcount Voting Machine Issues from across the country - Contributed by Rokki Knee Carr Vote by Mail presentation for Ulster County Legislature From Gary Bischoff:"I have strong feelings about what type of voting machine Ulster County should have. There is no question in my mind that we should have Paper Ballot - Optical Scan (PB/OS) as opposed to Direct Recording Electronic (DRE). " There was a decision late in January by the New York State Board of Elections regarding voting machines that should be used in every polling place in New York for handicapped accessible voting. New York State has rejected DREs and approved only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for use in 2008 polling places. This decision by the State Board of Elections virtually guarantees that New York State will vote on paper ballots and ballot scanners when it finally replaces lever machines in 2009. However, Liberty, a manufacturer of DREs, has announced that they are resorting to legal action to try to change the State BOE decision. There will be other pressures and we need to remain vigilant since there is so much money involved in the implementation of voting machines across New York. The law we are proposing for Ulster County is simple in that it requires any voting technology to provide a paper ballot that is marked by the actual voter. Ulster County would be the first county in New York to have a more stringent law regarding voting machine technology than the state or federal government. The hearing will be held at the Ulster County Office Building, 244 Fair Street, Kingston at 6 p.m. on February 6. Members of the public are invited and encouraged to speak at this hearing. --Gary Bischoff More information from Andi Novick: Once upon a time we understood the requirements of a democratic electoral process in NY. We understood that the right to choose our representatives meant nothing if the people cannot know -- not merely trust-- that their will was accurately reflected in the election results. The NYS legislature provided for public scrutiny of the entire process from casting to counting on election day and night. The Legislature insisted upon multiple safeguards to prevent or minimize the propensity for insider fraud. The Law in NY required that every process in the election, including the counting, be watched by many eyes --- election officials and "watchers" from the public and the parties all watching each other every step of the way. It was understood that the right to vote included not merely the right to cast a vote, but to know that the vote was received and accurately counted. See the amicus brief & accompanying declarations at: http://electiondefensealliance.org/projects/DOJ_v_NY_HAVA_complaint. Computerized voting systems are the antithesis of everything we once understood was essential to a secure, reliable election. Citizens and public officials can no longer see or otherwise monitor their elections when the process is made invisible by computers that perform in cyberspace the functions previously undertaken by trained poll workers in public view. Not only do computers deprive citizens of meaningful oversight and scrutiny of their elections, but private voting vendors secretly program the DREs and Paper Ballot Optical Scanners- directing them how to process and count our votes. Computerized elections permit the entire operation, including and especially the counting, to be done in secret, concealed from both the public and most election officials!! Let's learn from the evidence and avoid wasting our tax dollars are the same faulty, hackable-prone computers that have haunted the nation since the passage of HAVA. Contact your County legislators: In Ulster County: Legislators http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/legislature.html. Contact Democratic Election Commissioner John R. Parete, and Republican Election Commissioner Thomas F. Turco at 284 Wall Street NY VOTING MACHINESFrom Bo Lipari, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Verified Voting. Submitted by Terrie Rosenblum, Chair Woodstock Democratic Committee.
Those of you who were with us at the beginning five years ago know what an enormous victory this is. When I first started traveling, presenting and advocating in New York, election officials, political parties, and machine vendors assumed that New York State was going to be a DRE state. Precinct scanners were not under discussion, and only DREs were offered by vendors. Our experience over these five years reflects the truth of Gandhi's statement - indeed we were ignored, then laughed at, then fought bitterly by the voting machine vendors and their supporters in the election establishment. But finally, truth has prevailed, and what seemed like an impossible dream in 2003 has been made real by our hard work - New York State will be a paper ballot state. Just yesterday, it seemed like high powered lobbyists had scuttled our hopes once again as they maneuvered to keep DREs in the mix even though they were in clear violation of New York's laws(see my post describing yesterday's events). But this morning, when the Board reconvened it was immediately obvious from the commissioners opening statements that those who were pushing for the DREs had conceded defeat. No small amount of thanks is due to Commissioner Doug Kellner (D), who firmly held the line yesterday and during a long night of backroom political maneuvering, vowing he would never approve the DRE submissions which did not fulfill the requirements of New York State election law regarding accessible voting machines. While technically it is possible for a DRE vendor to submit and win approval for the 2009 lever machine replacement, this is highly unlikely as at least half of the HAVA funds will be spent on scanner compatible ballot markers. Since all the approved systems are components of a precinct based scanner system the least expensive path, and the only sensible one, is for counties to complete their HAVA implementation with paper ballots and scanners. We've learned to never be complacent, but this time we have reason to be confident that the scanner compatible choices of today will inevitably lead to paper ballots for all New York voters tomorrow. My deepest thanks to everyone who fought this long, difficult battle. This is only Round One, and I promise you we will have much, much more to do to guarantee that our elections belong to the public, and are transparent and observable. But for today, let's break out the champagne, relax, and celebrate this great victory. What was once only a slogan representing what we fought for has now become a reality - Paper Ballots for New York! Congratulations friends. Together we have changed the course of New York State election history, and 12 million registered voters in the Empire State will vote on paper ballots, not DREs. Bo Lipari UCDW SIGNS ON TO AMICUS BRIEF DEC 6, 2007 Andi Novick is filing an Amicus Brief in the case of whether or not NYS will be compliant with HAVA (Help America to Vote Act) voting machine federal law. Dem Women have signed on to the brief. Read brief: http://electiondefensealliance.org/projects/DOJ_v_NY_HAVA_complaint VOTING MACHINE ISSUES ACROSS THE COUNTRYContributed by Rokki Knee Carr OHIO - GIVING THE SLIP THE SLIP - More than 20% of touch screen votings in Cuyahoga County were unreadable in the most recent elections. This came to light as officials tried to do a recount of an election in two races, covering only 17 of the county's 1,436 precincts. If this happens in 2008, an Ohio recount could be jeopardized. http://www.cleveland.com/news/ NEW YORK - PAPER, GET YOUR PAPER - Madison County supervisors are taking their own set of actions to comply with HAVA. They have approved a resolution which favors adoption of an Optical Scan/Paper Ballot system. http://www.oneidadispatch.com ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION VOTE BY MAIL VOTER IDENTIFICATION VOTING MACHINES Unfortunately, you can't read this article without signing up and loging in. http://www.gjsentinel.com CALIFORNIA - WE'LL SEE YOU IN COURT - The City of San Francisco is suing Election Systems and Software for their failures in ES&S' Auto Mark system and failure to notify the California Secretary of State of changes made to the marking devices. NATIONAL - SEQUOIA SOLD - Voting machine manufacturer Sequoia Voting Systems has been sold to a group of private US investors. This move puts Sequoia under American ownership, which was an issue that had been raised in the last election cycle. VOTE COUNTING
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