URGENT!!! NY, It's time to lobby the State Senate for Paper Ballots!!!

[Bill Bored]

Fellow New Yorkers,

In a very short time, the state legislature will either ban insecure, hackable and error prone touch screen DRE voting machines by law, or allow them, leaving further action up to the Board of Elections.

From New Yorkers for Verified Voting:

>>
The HAVA conference committee meeting yesterday was a very good day for
paper ballot/optical scan, and showed that we have succeeded in our first
step of building a great deal of support for PBOS among the legislators.

The Assembly members came out just short of openly endorsing optical scan.
They talked about PBOS for almost 10 minutes, and never once mentioned DREs.
Assembly staff even handed out the PBOS handout package to the entire
conference committee that NYVV has been distributing in our lobbying
efforts, so we were literally "on the table".

Assemblymen Wright and Cahill, and others stated that NY should be
considering PBOS and it's considerable advantages. Assemblyman Cahill
mentioned that the disabled community (he is a very strong advocate) liked
the Automark ballot marker and it's accessibility features.

The downside is now that the Assembly is speaking strongly to adopt optscan
the Senate is taking a harder line against it. Such is the partisan nature
of our NY legislature. It's still unclear whether we will win outright
legislative support for PBOS or this will wind up being punted to the state
Board of Elections and/or individual counties. And we still battling against
the highly paid, influential lobbyists, who putting a big effort into DRE
adoption and spreading lies about PBOS.

But in spite of the lobbyists influence, we have succeeded in our first
goal. In New York State, we have won support in the legislature, and the
media, where new articles appear every day. Many county election
commissioners are beginning to talk about PBOS's benefits. PBOS is now on
the table in NY!

We've made great progress, but we still have much work to do. Thanks to all
of you out there who have made this possible. Our work is not over yet my
friends, but we are on our way!

Thanks,
Bo Lipari
>>

Here are the NY State Senate members on the conference committee who will decide whether we can ban DREs NOW, by law. If you've never written a letter before, this is the time to do it if you live in NY State. Be courteous and factual but demand that this blight on our democracy be banned from our state!

For more information go to www.nyvv.org and www.wheresthepaper.org

Let me know if you need any talking points. This is coming down to the wire people. Let's not get complacent about it.

John J. Flanagan, Chair, Senate Elections Committee
Room 817 LOB
Albany, NY 12247
518-455-2071
518-426-6904 FAX

Nicholas Spano
Room 509 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
518-455-2231
FAX: [phone]

Serphin Maltese
Room 413 Capitol
Albany, NY 12247
518-455-3281
FAX: [phone]

Martin Dilan
606 Legislative Office Building
Albany, New York 12247
518-455-2177

George Maziarz
915 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[The Doctor.]

1. Who makes the opti-scan machines you are referring to?

I'm curious.

[Bill Bored]

2. Doc, this has not been decided but I know Diebold makes some

And yes, I have concerns about them because they are programmed through GEMS.

If they are precinct count Op Scans with no networking, it would probably be easier to police them though and that's what we're asking for in the law, rather than leaving it up to BOEs, etc.

We also asked for a citizens' committee to advise on machine selection with no ties to voting machine companies, to include computer and auditing specialists, etc. That got kind of watered down in the actual bills, although there's still a citizens' committee.

Should vendors be specified in the law or just that there should be a competitive bidding process? Any ideas?

[The Doctor.]

3. I would certainly support language that set a high bar

for the veracity of the devices.

Obviously there should be no conflict of interest regarding a committee either.

Not alot of brainpower right now, but I'll see if I can think of anything.

[Bill Bored]

4. As currently written, the bills say we must use Touch Screen DREs

with voter-verified paper audit records, which could 97% unaudited!

So if you're motivated, ask them to mandate 100% auditing in case ANY discrepancy is found, rather than leaving this up to the BOE to decide. Also, NYVV favors Op Scans over DREs because Op Scans are more reliable, in inherently use voter-verified paper ballots, and are relatively easy to test through use of test decks, etc.

We should really ask to ban touch screen DREs, but not touch screen devices used as ballot markers for the disabled, which are not perform vote counting.

I know you write well Doc, so if you're convinced, please write the legislators above, Sheldon Silver, Joe Bruno and Gov. Pataki.

Eliot Spitzer may also be interested in hearing from us. He has been pushing for new machines, and may be uninformed.

For more information see:

nyvv.org and/or
wheresthepaper.org

[The Doctor.]

5. Will do.

As a MA resident I don't know if I'll have much impact, but It is as important to me that NY doesn't fall to this obscene travesty as well.

I'm very impressed with Spitzer so far - I'll probably start with him.

[Bill Bored]

6. Thanks doc.

How come you hang out on the NY forum? It's not very busy, at least not with election issues. I guess everyone will start to complain about these machines AFTER they arrive. But it will be too little too late by then.

[Nite Owl]

7. Thanks for this info

Bill. I will have some time tomorrow afternoon and will write the letters. I will also pass this on. These people are on the committee, should we write to our own legislators also?

[Bill Bored]

8. Yes! Write or call your own reps.

Also, don't forget the Assembly. Even though there is some indication that they are with us, nothing is etched in stone.

It may all come down to Silver, Bruno and Pataki.

Another suggestion is to alert Eliot Spitzer, who has been advocating machine upgrades, but may be uninformed about the possibility of fraud using touch screens or even unaudited Op Scans.

Thanks for doing whatever you can Nite Owl. Sorry for my late response.

Here's a link to all the committee members:

<http://www.nyvv.org/actionConferenceCommitteeMembers.htm>

[feelthebreeze]

9. kick this "mutha" up...

Bill Bored you are an inspiration and this should head every NY thread until this deed is done. PBOS with large percentage audit and precinct scanners! Go Bo Lipari and keep the pressure up. No use in protesting if our votes aren't safe. Secure 'em cowboys!