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from New Yorkers for Verified Voting
Urgent Action Alert for New York State!
The Decision On Voting Machines For New York State Is Imminent!
As a result of the Department of Justice lawsuit regarding New York State’s lever machine replacement, New York State’s county level election commissioners have until February 8, 2008 to choose whether to use either a paper ballot based ballot marker and scanner system, or a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system for each county.
After reaching a compromise with the federal court to provide ballot marking devices for disabled voters in each polling places in 2008, the New York State Board of Elections has recklessly redefined ballot marking devices to include DRE voting machines. Let’s be clear – the untested DRE devices which commissioners are now empowered to purchase are not Ballot Marking Devices, they are DRE touch screen voting machines. Because this choice will commit over half of the funding available for new voting machines, if a county selects a DRE in February your county will vote on touch screen voting machines.
Concerned New Yorkers can help by notifying the county commissioners of the importance of choosing a paper ballot based system, and putting the media spotlight on the issue. It is urgent that you contact your local election commissioners in writing before the end of the month, and include newspapers and county legislators in that correspondence.
Contact information for all of New York State’s county level election
commissioners can be found at the New York State Board of Elections web site:
Click to access County Board of Elections contact information
Duplicate, sign and send the following letter to county level election
commissioners, and your local media and county legislators:
Click to access Sample Letter [My preference is to retain the current mechanical machines. Or change to hand counted paper ballots like Canda does. -ISW]
Please act now!
The decision whether you will vote on electronic touch screen voting machines
or voter marked paper ballots will be made in the next few weeks !
Filed under: Action Alert!, Ballot issues, election, elections, Electronic Voting
There is a world of difference between DREs and ballot marking devices like the AutoMark. The AutoMark produces a fully marked ballot on sturdy paper that can be easily audited and recounted. The best that DREs can do is produce “toilet paper” rolls of flimsy ATM type paper that is difficult to handle for recounts or audits. At worst, DREs produce only invisible electronic ballots.
The AutoMark is also more accessible to disabled voters than DREs because of the variety of input devices that can be used. DREs actually only address the needs of blind voters, not the needs of the majority of voters with other types of disabilities. DREs are especially difficult for voters with neuro-muscular disorders, such as Parkinson’s, stroke or muscular dystrophy.