NY -- Elections -- Want to Keep Lever Machines? [View All]

[Bill Bored]

Those on this forum concerned about electronic voting should call their local board of elections and the media NOW and advise them that under ERMA 2005, NY State's law that implements HAVA, it's perfectly legal to keep lever machines for as long as they want, as long as Accessible machines for the disabled are also provided!

Here is the relevant section of ERMA 2005 aka Chapter 181:

16 § 11. Help America Vote Act voting machine and system implementation.
17 Effective the first federal election in 2006, each polling place shall
18 be equipped with at least one voting machine or voting system which is
19 equipped for individuals with disabilities and provides individuals with
20 disabilities with the same opportunity for access and participation as
21 other voters and which meets the requirements of section 7-202 of the
22 election law and the federal Help America Vote Act.
23 Effective September 1, 2007, all lever machines in New York state
24 shall be replaced by voting machines or voting systems which meet the
25 requirements of section 7-202 of the election law, provided, however,
26 that with respect to any board of elections which determines to retain
27 lever machines on or after the effective date of this act and prior to
28 September 1, 2007, the provisions of this act which impose new standards
29 for voting machines which were not required prior to the effective date
30 of this act, including the amendments to section 7-202 of the election
31 law made by section six of this act, shall not be applicable with
32 respect to such lever machines during any period of time during which
33 such lever machines are lawfully utilized.

Note that even the US Dept. of Justice has agreed with the provisions of this law, at least for now, in their suit against NY, and we will definitely be keeping lever machines in 2006. What is at issue now is 2007 and beyond, and it's clear from reading this law that it's not the intent of the legislature to ban lever machines.

What needs to happen now, is for our Boards of Elections to become informed. I hear reports that most commissioners in the state would prefer to keep the levers, but they just don't know it's legal to do so because of the disinformation being disseminated by e-voting systems vendors and others who are deliberately misreading the law.

Please contact your county or NYC BoE and send them this law to keep the lever option on the table!

Currently there are no e-voting systems certified in NY, but this could change. There are also no auditing requirements beyond the initial 3% required by law, which is not enough to confirm the outcome of close elections.

Let's not put the cart before the horse! First do no harm. Keep the levers until e-voting, which includes optical scan, is ready for prime time!

Use this link to find contact info for your BoE:
<http://www.elections.state.ny.us/portal/page?_pageid=153,42096,153_42424:153_42428&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL>