ALBANY, NY, Oct. 31
After informing the US Dept. of Justice, who reportedly have been "speechless" regarding the inability of New York to certify even one electronic vote-counting system to replace our reliable lever voting machines in time for the 2009 elections, the State Board of Elections informed Judge Gary L. Sharpe that they have issued a stop-work order to SysTest Labs, in effect halting the testing effort, until "a further investigation of the issues surrounding the likely suspension [of SysTest by the EAC] could be had."
The news was delivered to the court in the form of the State Board's Oct. 31st HAVA compliance report (PDF), which the court ordered the State to transmit on a weekly basis early this year. The full series of reports can be found here at Election Law @ Moritz. The reports reveal a plethora of problems with the certification process, which had already placed the lever replacement time line known as "Plan A" in jeopardy.
Prior to ordering these reports, Judge Sharpe had stated that he got his information about e-voting from reading the newspapers. We commend His Honor for trying to become better informed on these issues, as they can be rather complex and esoteric at times.
Less esoteric is the need for an accurate and reliable vote-counting system for the State of New York. Fortunately though, we already have one. It's comprised of about 20,000 lever voting machines (all of which are HAVA-compliant now that NY has met HAVA's Accessibility requirements); paper-ballot marking devices for voters with special needs; hand counting of those ballots at the polling place on election night; and the HAVA-required permanent paper records produced on election night -- not by machines -- but by thousands of bi-partisan election inspectors contemporaneously throughout the State.
The one ingredient that is conspicuously absent from New York's vote-counting system, except for a small percentage of absentee ballots (and that is NOT a HAVA requirement) is: SOFTWARE! And we all know how reliable that is -- especially the voting system kind.
The State Board's letter to the court states that they are "hopeful that a plan for resolution of these issues will be developed in the near future." And so are we. It's called Plan L.
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New Yorkers:
Here at our blog, you'll find:
-- a letter to send to your legislators. Send copies of this letter or, your own version, to all members of government. Find helpful contact links below!
-- a copy of the first resolution to keep our lever voting system, unanimously passed in Dutchess County, NY (PDF version available here) and now being considered by other county legislatures -- and with your help, across the entire state!
2) Sign and circulate this petition: http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/save_ny_levers
3) Donate to support our efforts! Contact
Joanne AT re-mediaetc.org
to volunteer some time to Save Our Lever Voting System!
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The leaders of ETC have been working on the issue of election transparency in New York pro bono for years. This is one reason why we can speak so freely on the subject -- we don't owe anybody anything. Unfortunately, lawsuits do have expenses, so please consider making a donation to support election transparency in the Empire State and beyond.
We are now a project of the International Humanities Center. All donations are tax deductible.
Make a contribution online. Checks or money orders can be made to: IHCenter/Election Transparency Coalition and mailed to Election Transparency Coalition, P.O. Box 127 Staatsburg, NY 12580
New Yorkers:
Sign Our Petition,
Join the Coalition,
Become a Plaintiff!
“If citizens mistakenly believe that a court has already ruled against the legality of our lever voting system, they will give up and accept the unconstitutional system planned for 2009.”
-- Andi Novick, Esq.
We cannot give up! Click here to sign our petition and join the coalition, or become a plaintiff in the lawsuit to save New York's Lever Voting System!Save New York Levers
Follow developments in the "keep the levers" movement in New York, learn about levers and find out what you can do to encourage your local government to pass its own lever resolution at our sister sites Resolved: NY Communities Want Levers and Save NY's Lever Voting Machines.
What You Need to Know
- Fact Sheet: Lever Machines Succeed Where Op-Scans Can't
- Scientific Studies on Software Based Voting
- Why Levers? An Overview
- A Scholar Speaks on the Lever Machines
- Can Lever Machines Be Maintained?
- Association of Towns NY Lever Resolution
- Dutchess County Lever Resolution
- Columbia County Resolution
- Ulster County Resoution
- Greene County Resolution
- Schuyler County Resolution
- Essex County Resolution
New Yorkers: Contact Your Representatives and Boards of Elections
- Click here to contact the NY State Board of Elections
- Click here to contact your County Executives and Legislators
- Click here to find your county Board of Elections
- Click here to contact your State Senator
- Click here to contact your Assembly Member
- Click here to contact Governor Paterson
- Click here to contact your Member of Congress
- Click here to contact Senator Schumer
- Click here to contact Senator Gillibrand
FELLOW NEW YORKERS, TAKE ACTION!
New York has the last transparent, secure, accurate and reliable electoral system left in the nation. Join citizens, county legislators, county election commissioners and political parties in saving our lever voting system! Here's how:
Here at our blog, you'll find:
-- a letter to send to your legislators. Send copies of this letter or, your own version, to all members of government. Find helpful contact links below!
-- a copy of the first resolution to keep our lever voting system, unanimously passed in Dutchess County, NY (PDF version available here) and now being considered by other county legislatures -- and with your help, across the entire state!
2) Sign and circulate this petition: http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/save_ny_levers
3) Donate to support our efforts! Contact
Joanne AT re-mediaetc.org
to volunteer some time to Save Our Lever Voting System!
The Coalition
- American Association of University Women -- Kingston, NY Branch
- ARISE
- Black Box Voting
- Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, Manhattanville College
- Danny Schechter, founder of Globalvision and MediaChannel.org
- Del4Change
- E-Voter Education Project
- Election Defense Alliance
- Joan Brunwasser, Citizens for Election Reform, Election Integrity Editor OpEdNews
- Joel Tyner and James Doxsey, Dutchess County Legislators
- Mark Crispin Miller, author Fooled Again: The Real Case for Election Reform
- New Paltz Women in Black
- New York Citizens for Clean Elections
- Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media
- Protect California Ballots
- Rhinebeck Democrats
- Susan Zimet, Ulster County Legislator
- The Coalition for Visible Ballots
- The more than 1,700 New Yorkers who've signed our Save-the-Levers Petition
- The Ohio Election Justice Campaign
Recommended Sites
Our Executive Committee
- Andi Novick, Esq.,
Founder and Legal Counsel - Joanne Lukacher,
Executive Director
About Election Transparency Coalition NY
- Election Transparency Coalition
- (New York)
- Election Transparency Coalition NY, an offspring of Northeast Citizens For Responsible Media, is dedicated to educating and organizing the citizens of New York State and beyond to restore citizen oversight and public control of our elections -- our fundamental democratic right -- that has been undermined by the use of electronic vote-counting systems that tally our ballots in secret, subject to easy and undetectable manipulation. Election Tranparency Coalition is a project of the International Humanities Center.