Reply #8: 42,000 sigs for paper trail delevered to Gov Pataki in Albany...pic [View All]

[ElsewheresDaughter]

we must keep the pressure on...

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=266133&category=CAPITOL&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=7/14/2004


Ray Blanchard of Albany and Sondra Sprinkling of Delmar hold up enlarged petition letters during a voters' rally Tuesday on the steps of the Capitol. Taped end to end, enlarged examples of the letters sent to Pataki stretched from the Capitol's west steps to its State Street entranc

Activists delivered their own "paper trail" of nearly 42,000 signatures to Gov. George Pataki on Tuesday, demanding that the state buy only electronic voting machines that create verification records to prevent mistakes, miscounts and fraud.
Debbie Chess, 66, of Albany, summed up the group's sentiments with the hand-lettered cardboard sign hung around her neck: "No printout = No way to recount votes = No way to have an election."


Taped end to end, enlarged examples of the letters sent to Pataki stretched from the Capitol's west steps to its State Street entrance.

New York is poised to overhaul its voting system as mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which helps finance modernization of elections. The act requires replacement of old lever voting machines with electronic versions.

But experts say electronic voting machines aren't foolproof. Some models can be easily hacked or can malfunction and miscount votes. Problems with electronic machines in states that already own them are well documented, leading some officials to temporarily ban their use.

Without a paper trail to let voters check to make sure their selections were correctly recorded, electronic machines aren't democratic, opponents say.

"Using a voting machine without a genuine paper trail is like asking New Yorkers to use a bank ATM that never allows you to count your cash or receive a receipt detailing your transaction," said Neal Rosenstein, government reform coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Both the Republican-controlled state Senate and the Democrat-dominated Assembly have passed legislation requiring machines with voter-verified paper trails. But the measures don't match up, and therefore can't be sent to Pataki for signing.