Breaking News - NY rejects DREs

[feelthebreeze]

Source: New Yorkers for Verified Voting

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

-Mohandas Gandhi



I'm pleased to announce that after five years of hard work on the part of

voting integrity advocates, New York State has rejected DREs and

approved only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for

use in 2008 polling places. This momentous 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.



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 machnne 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 at http://nyvv.org/blog/2008/01/breakdown-at-board.html

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...


[e-mail]



-Bo Lipari

Executive Director

New Yorkers for Verified Voting

No link yet.

---

Ah...smell the hope!

[stellanoir]

1. Phew

K & R'd

This has been one of the most grueling struggles and seeming greatest exercises in futility EVER.

Glad that wiser heads prevailed. FINALLY.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, feelthebreeze.

[feelthebreeze]

5. Thanks to Bo lipari... great news

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd! nt

[Warpy]

4. That's great news. NM did this a couple of years ago

because the theft here was so transparent. When 17,000+ more people vote in local judge races than vote in the national election and no straight Democratic ticket votes are recorded, you know something stinks.

The Sequoia counters can still be jiggered, of course, but the paper ballots can still be spot checked and the counts verified.

[feelthebreeze]

6. Yes PBOS can still be manipulated...

However, this is not the end point. The move is to continue on and get those handcounted paper ballots. A stepping stone is what this action today represents. Feels so good to taste some victory and hope!

[balantz]

7. Thank you!

And congratulations!

[aquart]

8. Leave my levers alone.

[ccpup]

12. I was nowhere NEAR your levers!

:evilgrin:

[stillcool]

9. Now if we can just get a little...

audit after every election! I wonder how many have signed on to Rush Holt's bill?

Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the New Holt Bill!

2008 is shaping up to be the "big change" election we hoped it would be. But, with a number of states still using paperless, touch-screen voting machines, prone to failure and miscounts, that wave of change could be stopped in its tracks in an instant.

Yesterday, January 17th, Rep. Rush Holt introduced a new bill (the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008) to give those states the emergency funding they need to secure their voting system with a paper record. Please sign on as a Citizen Co-Sponsor of this bill today, and tell your Representative that we need secure elections!

http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=3833149

Tell Congress: Pass Emergency Bill for Secure Elections in 2008

Now is your best chance to to help make the 2008 Presidential election verifiable. Please ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the "Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008”, Representative Rush Holt's bill to provide emergency funding for paper ballots voting systems and random hand counted audits of the November elections.

The Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act offers states or counties reimbursement for purchasing paper ballot systems in time for the November elections, and reimbursement for conducting random hand-counted audits of the November election results.

The bill would offer money only for the most reliable voting systems: those that use voter-marked paper ballots, with accessible ballot-marking devices to serve voters with disabilities. By offering crucial funding, Congress can empower state and county officials to do the right thing in time for November.

Rep. Holt's bill could not be more timely. As the Presidential primary season unfolds, 14 states will use paperless electronic system in their primaries, either as the statewide system, or as the system used in many counties.

It doesn't have to be this way in November. Urge your Representative to cosponsor the Confidence in Voting Act. Take action now: please send the letter below (or feel free to edit as you see fit). Thank you!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/199/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22334

[frog92969]

10. Kick for democracy, and NY

Nice victory on the front lines in the war for democracy.

[FreepFryer]

11. Very Nicely Done. (n/t)

[Teaser]

13. "Forgot about DRE"

.

[rox63]

14. WooHoo!

:woohoo:

[Peace Patriot]

15. See what the Arcturians beamed to my tinfoil hat about the Bushite EAC going easy

on New York on HAVA compliance. I think our correspondents on Arcturus may be onto something. (Hint: New Yorkers voters - who live at the center of our nation's corporate news establishment, and are an ornery lot, kept ignorance and therefore quiet about 'TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY vote counting code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, so they wouldn't raise the alarm nationwide before these fucking machines could be fast-tracked everywhere else, and the corruption around them thoroughly entrenched.)

Comment 8:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x495742

Getting a ballot (something TO recount - if anybody ever bothers) is a step toward restoring transparent vote counting and democracy in this country, but only a step. They've TAKEN AWAY OUR RIGHT TO VOTE--with its INHERENT attendant right to have our votes counted in public view--and now--due to ferocious public reaction and citizen activism--they're giving it PARTIALLY back with optiscans also run on secret code.

I can only applaud--and heap kudos and laurel wreathes upon--the folks in New York who forestalled paperless voting (the DREs)--with votes 'counted' with Bushite secret code--and achieved this partial victory of restoring your right to a ballot. But yet me use this analogy: It's like being a slave in the South in the days of slavery. Say, the white guys got together and passed a law that slave owners could not arbitrarily murder their slaves, but had to propose it to a commission of white guys to determine if they thought it was justified. Paperless voting (DREs-touchscreens) is slavery. Optiscan voting is slavery without your master having the right to murder you at will.

Yes, no murder of slaves (unless other white guys agree) is better than totally arbitrary murder. And perhaps, if such a proposal had actually occurred in the South, it might have been done by well-meaning white slave owners to prevent excesses by their peers--well-meaning whites who might even deserve some praise for recognizing that slaves have some kind of right to life, and who might have been spurred by abolitionists in the North descrying the horrors of slavery. And who could be against slaves whose owners intended to murder them having some chance at life? Right?

Now New Yorkers will have a CHANCE at accurate votes counts and democracy. A chance. Elections can still EASILY be stolen. And the reward of billions of tax payers dollars to rightwing Bushite corporations that have been stealing elections elsewhere in the country seems as inappropriate as the white slave owners--even the well-intentioned ones, who don't kill their slaves arbitrarily--profiting from slavery.

And I didn't have to consult the Arcturians on that. Non-transparent vote counting, with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with (ballot or no ballot) virtually no audit/recount controls, IS slavery. IF you have lots of free time that is your own (no job?), and lots of money, and lots of lawyers, you can maybe get some votes actually counted, in specific questionable elections. And if you are in a DRE state, you can't. And all states are subject to the federal government, and its president and congress, which are (s)elected by the Bushite electronic voting corporations in slave or semi-slave states. That's the reality.

[lovuian]

16. I salute NY

:patiot:

[caseycoon]

17. Excellent! K&R n/t

[Chovexani]

18. My home state does me proud again

I can't wait to go home to Brooklyn.

[Javaman]

19. So this happens AFTER the general election? nt

[truedelphi]

29. My brain didn't register that tiny but important detail

"After the election"

Oh friggin' NO!

[Gonnuts]

43. Exactly ...

This is nothing but a BIG - WTF?!!!

What are we suppose to do? Light a big cigar? Oh, goody ... let's let them have one more stolen election for old times sake.

I don't know how many of you are paying attention, but, WE CAN'T GIVE UP ANOTHER ELECTION!!! We give this one up we might never get a chance at another one. And again if you think I'm being melodramatic YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!

[gmudem]

20. Great news for my state! n/t

[shadowknows69]

21. Excellent news

I remember asking my polling place about this and they had told me we were set to get the Sequoia machines in for 2008.

[SharonRB]

22. Great news,but

what does it do for 2008?

[femrap]

23. k and r

And so many sheeple said that the DREs were here to stay. Ye of little faith!!!!

Great news!

[RoccoR5955]

24. As an Election custodian in Ulster County

I am pleased with this decision. Though the old lever machines will work in just about any circumstance, and are handicapped accessible, I am glad they did not go with the DREs. I know that the election workers would have had fits, had they used the DREs. It's bad enough with the lever machines, and something doesn't work perfectly, and I am not looking forward to ANY new system with the people that I have to deal with. I know that these will probably be the least intrusive machines that NY could have gotten.


I still think that paper ballots would be the best thing though.

[newburgh]

37. This is a great victory in a way... but you're sooo correct

all those old lever machines should be used until they are not fixable. When I went around to the different precincts the morning after the last local election in November, several of the machine custodians told us some of the machines were from about 1930!

The paper ballot may be a huge win, in this HAVA atmosphere, for the accountability of the votes, but as far as costs go, nothing is nearly as costly as these disposable, instantly antiquated computers that will be scanning those ballots. Let's hope that random hand counts to verify the results are also required.

Thanks so much to Bo Lipari and the folks at NYVV for their hard work! Bravo!

:toast:

[BrklynLiberal]

25. K & R!!!!!!

[Hekate]

26. That feeling in my heart actually seems to be .... hope

I want my country back.

Hekate

[pleah]

27. That is great news! Thanks!

[anamandujano]

28. Wow! Can't believe it!

Hope to hear the changes in all the states now that New York has finally started the ball rolling.

I honestly can't believe it!

[peabody71]

30. Let's hope it sets a precident.

A great victory!

[eppur_se_muova]

31. I<3NY!

Darn, can't do a heart that way!

& hearts ; works, then it gets changed -- weird.

♥

[Stevepol]

32. Great news, and now with CA decertifying DREs and suing ES&S,

the chances of 08 being stolen as blatantly as in 04 are at least reduced. Another small step for a state, a giant leap for the US.

[Kurovski]

33. K&R. (nt)

[Fredda Weinberg]

34. I hate this ... this is not news. Our legislature voted on this months ago n/t

[Bill Bored]

59. What are you talking about Fredda?

They voted to keep lever forever!

This is only about Accessibility with ballot markers. The news is that they will be ballot markers and not DREs.

It is old news though. The first thread is here from 1/24/2008:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x495742

[Lugnut]

35. I wish PA would get a clue.

:kick:

[307 MMS]

36. Yes!

Don't know where you are in the Empire State, but I'm in Hoosick Falls, about 8 miles west of Benninginton, VT. Thank you so much for all you did and do. If I'd known this was going down in NYS, I'd have gotten involved! Shame on me for not knowing as I can't stand commercial TV. What a victory! Onward, my friend!

[robinlynne]

38. GREAT! FANTASTIC! but ballot scanners aren't any good. Let's hope that gets realized

quickly! The scanners work with the same invisible software to count the votes. In this case, you have a paper back-up for a recount, but we keep finding that the recounts are not happening easily. Better to count correctly the first time, i.e. without any "private software' involved in the counting.

[gristy]

49. I've been following this for years, cutting my teeth on the issue with MN SOS Mary Kiffmeyer

Paper ballots are THE thing to strive for. Without paper ballots, we are lost. Good one for NY for recognizing this.
The issues you mention, while significant, can be handled with proper election procedures and auditing.

[robinlynne]

50. theoretically. but over and over, we are not getting the recounts on paper to happen.

therefor the machine counts of the paper are deciding who getss into office.

[Laurab]

39. K & R n/t

[Maven]

40. YES!!!

GO NYVV!

[Maven]

41. .

[FourScore]

42. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Everyone I know here in Ithaca signed the petition against DRE's. I am so excited about this. Excellent news!!!

[Beregond2]

44. DREs

It's so good to hear some good news!

[helderheid]

45. YES! Hey. What are they voting with tomorrow?

[Danmel]

46. It took an enormous amount of work

From dedicated and I must say INDEFATIGABLE people who persisted for years.

I work for the COunty Legislature and I know how hard they worked. Hats off to Marge and her incredible inability to take no for an answer and to the LI Progressive coalition and everyone at Verified Voting. It was a struggle but you succeeded and we are all in your debt!

[onyxred]

47. Why are we so happy yet we believe that the NH vote was clean

I guess many here think that a Democrat would be unable to steal an election.
Probably, but a Republican could tweak the Democratic elections any time.

[MelissaB]

48. Wonderful news!

K&R

[PervezClinton]

51. Thanks. Very informative.

[DuaneBidoux]

52. Great going!! It's too bad that this didn't happen in Ohio.

[Cybergata]

53. Congratulations!

This is one of the positive things Bill Richardson did for New Mexico. He supported legislation to make sure we would have paper ballots. It ended up being a faster system that the electronic voting machines had been.

[bjobotts]

54. Great news! And now for the rest of the states...

[autorank]

55. New York has played this very well. K*R

I saw where DoJ was threatening to sue. Well, bring it on. New York's AG office will clean their
clocks.

This is one step. Next ban all computerized devices and mechanical devices, including those stupid
levers, which can be compromised also.

But hats off to NY, their activists, government, and remarkable citizens.

[Bill Bored]

60. Sorry but AG hasn't done shit. They are lame.

And while you may think your exit polls are more accurate than our lever machines, unless we are going to hand count a significant number of those otherwise worthless paper ballots, I'll take the levers.

[donheld]

56. I believe Colorado did the exact opposite.

[Cassandra]

57. I've known Doug Kellner, intermitently...

for more than 20 years. He is as close to a white knight, a truly decent person, as you'll ever find. I'm really proud to see what a strong role he played in this.

[Wilms]

58. I hope that NY gets real audits implemented with these Optical Scan Electronic Voting Machines

I'll be nice and just say that and that I agree with Bo that DRE's a non-starter.

- edited to add -

:D