NY Legislature Considers Eliminating E-Voting Requirement for Some Local Elections

[emlev]

(X-posted in New York forum here)

From the Election Transparency Coalition:

The NY State Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a bill that would allow lever voting machines or hand-counted paper ballots to be used in some local elections!

Call or email your legislators in support of S2339A in the Senate and companion bill A3093 in the Assembly. The Senate Elections committee passed its bill unanimously. The Assembly bill has not yet been taken up by the Election Law committee.

These bills would eliminate the requirement that electronic voting systems be used in village, special district, improvement district and library district elections. School district elections are already permitted to conduct elections without the use of electronic voting systems. The bills are expected to move quickly through the legislature because local elections are coming up in March.

ETC applauds this effort to promote legitimate elections in local jurisdictions, make local elections more affordable in these difficult financial times, and broaden the base of local officials, government workers and voters who understand the value of continued use of our time-tested, trustworthy and transparent lever voting systems.

Should this legislation pass, counties should be much less likely to dump their lever machines, which means the machines will still be available when we succeed in getting electronic voting machines declared unconstitutional!

These bills are unlikely to receive many public comments, so yours will likely weigh more heavily than usual on the way your representatives vote.

Please call or email today!

1) Find your State Senator here.
Click on the word "contact" by the senator's name to view their email address.

Tell them in a phone call or email:
Please vote YES on S2339A to allow lever voting machines and hand-counted paper ballots in village, special district, improvement district and library district elections.
Important: If you email, include your name, postal mailing address and telephone number in your message.

2) Find your Assembly Member here and their email address here.

If your Assembly Member is on the Election Law committee (see list below), say:
Please vote YES on A3093 to allow lever voting machines and hand-counted paper ballots in village, special district, improvement district and library district elections.
Important: If you email, include your name, postal mailing address and telephone number in your message

These are the members on the election law committee:
• Alec Brook-Krasny
• Robert Castelli
• Jeffrey Dinowitz
• Sandy Galef
• Brian Kavanagh
• Joseph Lentol
• Barbara Lifton
• Donna Lupardo
• Tom McKevitt
• Joel Miller
• Joan Millman, Chair
• Marcus Molinaro
• Fred Thiele, Jr.
• David Weprin

If your Assembly Member is not on the Election Law committee, say:
Please encourage your colleagues on the Election Law Committee to vote YES on A3093 to allow lever voting machines and hand-counted paper ballots in village, special district, improvement district and library district elections and support this bill when it comes to the full Assembly.
Important: If you email, include your name, postal mailing address and telephone number in your message

3) Extra Credit:
Contact Joan Millman, the Chair of the Assembly Election Law committee and ask that she act quickly to move A3093 through the committee and to the Assembly floor.
email: [e-mail]
Albany office: 518-455-5426
Brooklyn office: 718-246-4889

Thank you for your support in getting this legislation passed!

Note: To sign up for messages like this from the Election Transparency Coalition, go to this link.

[Wilms]

1. Pity it took so long to figure this out.

Some jurisdictions haven't even wanted to let these other districts use the machines. It's unclear if the software is set to do it. There are security issues. And of course, the cost.

Pity it took so long to figure this out.

Shame on all the reactionary "hacks" with influence over voting systems.