2009 Ends in Dramatic Penultimate Victory:
A New Year's Message to New Yorkers for Verified Voting

by Wanda Warren Berry, Director
Read Dr. Berry's message here

2009 NYS Voting Machine Certification Documents

We've posted four important documents released on December 15, 2009 by the New York State Board of Elections regarding formal certification of voting machines.

Election Operations Unit Certification Recommendations
Remediation Resolution (calls for vendors to repair outstanding issues discovered during testing)
Dominion Scanner/Ballot Marking Device Certification Resolution
ES&S Scanner Certification Resolution
AutoMARK Ballot Marking Device Certification Resolution

LWVNY Presentation at the NYSAC Conference

Election Specialist Aimee Allaud of the League of Women Voters of New York State was a presenter on the HAVA panel at the recent New York State Association of Counties Conference. Her statement summarized the state's current status in implementing the new voting systems. In addition, Ms. Allaud made proposals for reducing the county's implementation costs, such regional sharing of needed equipment among smaller counties. From her statement:

"New York State counties have recognized in theory that regional collaborations of government could produce economies and efficiencies of scale. County boards of elections functions in implementing HAVA and ERMA could be the opportunities needed to jump start the exploration of such efforts."

Read the full statement here

NYVV Comments on Proposed New York State Auditing Regulations Released

One of the key benefits of New York State’s new voting systems is the ability to audit paper ballots as an independent verification of machine reported results. NYVV has long advocated for risk-limiting audits designed to use resources efficiently and effectively to confirm – and, if necessary, to correct – election outcomes. The proposed amendment to the Rules and Regulations of the State of New York, Part 6210.18, needs several improvements in order to move towards this important goal.

On July 25, 2009, NYVV submitted comments on needed improvements to the proposed auditing regulations.

Read the NYVV comments on the proposed auditing regulations here.

Read the State Board of Elections proposed auditing regulations here.

NYVV and LWV/NY Release Open Letter on Pilot Program
New Yorkers for Verified Voting and the League of Women Voters of New York State issued an open letter to the State Board of Elections again requesting answers to questions posed about the impending 2009 "pilot" program and paper ballot auditing procedures. The letter begins:

"Almost a month ago we joined with some other good government groups to write to you about the serious weaknesses of your published “Pilot Plan” for the deployment of uncertified scanners in the primary and general elections of 2009. That memorandum asked you “to let us know how you plan to correct the inadequacies” that we had identified in the pilot plan."

Read the open letter here.

Citizen Advisory Committee Member Releases Critique of Pilot Program
In a newly released critique of the Board’s proposed pilot program, Bo Lipari, League of Women Voters representative to the Citizen Election Modernization Advisory Committee, reported that “the Proposed Plan gives insufficient regard to the scale of the project, the need for independent verification of results, the potential for problems arising, or a plan for how to learn from and apply the results.” Among other recommendations, the report urges that the State Board of Elections modify the pilot plan to provide independent verification of paper ballots, only allow counties to use the pilot systems for a maximum of 10% of voters in each county, and provide a substantive contingency plan in the event of problems.

Download Bo Lipari's report on the pilot program here.

A press release from the League of Women Voters, NYVV and NYPIRG about the report is available.

Download the press release.

Update on the "Pilot" Program for Use of New Voting Equipment
Many of you wrote to the NY State Board of Elections before its May 12 meeting to insist that their "Proposed Plan for a 2009 Pilot Program" requires that any use of uncertified scanners be accompanied with a 100% hand count. We want to make sure you know that the plan posted at the Board’s website does NOT include this requirement.
Read the statement (~12kb PDF)

Two Recent Endorsements
NYVV has endorsed this testimony offered by the NYS League of Women Voters at the hearing held by the NY Senate Standing Committee on Elections on April 24. The package of bills being discussed concern Voter Registration, most significantly, provisions for Election Day registration at the pollsite.
Read the letter (~16kb PDF)

NYVV Open Letter to Vendors of Voting Equipment for New York
"New Yorkers for Verified Voting has supported paper ballot-ballot marker-ballot scanner systems ... However, we are thus far disappointed in the willingness of vendors to guarantee quality equipment, service, and reasonable pricing."
Read the letter (~20kb PDF)

Director Warren-Berry's original op ed submission,
"How I learned not to love lever voting machines while fighting DREs."

Published in a different version in the Syracuse Post-Standard, Opinion, March 22, 2009

Leverage Against Levers
Lever voting machines have served New York State in the past, but it is clear that they no longer meet our citizens expectations for a verifiable, auditable, and accessible voting system.

Learn why we oppose mechanical voting machines and the "keep the levers movement" (PDF).

Paperless Systems Will Not Do!
On March 4, 2009, the New York City Board of Elections held an open hearing about the two paper ballot-ballot marker-optical scanner systems currently available for purchase in New York: the ES&S DS200 (with AutoMARK) and the Sequoia/Dominion "Democracy Suite." Barbara Barr read this statement from the NYS League of Women Voters and New Yorkers for Verified Voting.

Read the full statement here (PDF)
HTML version

New York State Board of Elections Must Investigate Rationales for Price Increases
We are concerned about the approach that the Co-Executive Directors of the New York State Board of Elections have communicated to the County Boards of Elections in their letter of February 26, 2009. That letter says the two vendors of voting systems to New York (ES&S and Sequoia/Dominion) have “requested a price increase supported by various rationales.” Executive Director Wanda Warren Berry presented the following letter on March 2:

Read the letter here (PDF)
HTML version

League of Women Voters Resolution Applies to All Voting Systems
The 2006 Resolution affirms that the League of Women Voters/US only supports voting systems which meet a specific set of criteria. These criteria are listed in the joint LWV/NYVV statement on lever machines. In recent days several posts have appeared claiming that the LWVUS Resolution does not apply to lever machines. However, according to a member of that Task Force, Dr. Barbara Simons: "In my opinion, the LWVUS statement opposes ALL paperless voting systems, not just paperless DREs. Therefore, the LWVUS statement should apply to paperless unauditable lever machines."

Read the full statement and quote here (PDF)
HTML version

Read the LWV/NYVV statement (PDF)
HTML version

Read the press release here (PDF)

Read an analysis of HAVA requirements to replace lever machines (PDF)

New Article - Good News From Minnesota
The recount of paper ballots in the Minnesota Senate race should be completed this week. In a new article, NYVV's Wanda Warren Berry writes about why, regardless of who wins, the Minnesota recount is good news for New York State.

We fought a long and difficult battle in New York for paper ballots, and the events in Minnesota show us why it was so important. The Senate race recount demonstrates that the paper ballot voting system selected by New York State counties is a solid foundation for election integrity when managed by well defined procedures.

Read Wanda Warren Berry's piece:
Good News from Minnesota