PUBLIC HEARING: NYC Election Modernization!

[Bill Bored]

Come one, come all. Be there or be square! If you don't want to speak, come and listen. Fight privatization of our elections! Support a ban on unverified electronic voting in NYC!

There will be a hearing on Wednesday May 4, 2005, 7 PM
of Mayor's Task Force on Election Modernization.
at Pace University, Multipurpose Room.

This is an opportunity to make a public statement
opposing evoting and supporting
paper ballots and precinct-based optical scanners
with an accessible ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities.

Each speaker is limited to 3 minutes and may be shorter.
Each speaker may bring ten copies of their statement for the 9 members of the task force and Tal Golomb.

To get on the schedule of speakers, send an email to Tal J. Golomb
[e-mail]
requesting to be put on the list of speakers at the
May 4 hearing of the Mayor's Task Force on Election Modernization.

Thanks!

[FogerRox]

1. NY friggin rocks

[sunshinekathy]

2. Please fight for Op Scan Paper Ballots in NY - Not DREs

Here is something that may help you in New York to fight against Electronic Ballot DREs in New York:

http://uscountvotes.net/scripts/lettergen/ltr_pick_addressee.php

All the information for all of New York's Election Offices are in our tables at US Count Votes, so people can quickly print and mail this pre-addressed letter to their election officials in New York, or fill in any other name and address to send this paper ballot petition to.

To see some of the disadvantages of DRE voting machines over Op Scan see this:

http://utahcountvotes.org/docs/20_DRE_Disadvantages.html
or check on
http://votersunite.org

For a rough price comparison to show how many millions of dollars would be saved even in a small state like Utah by purchasing paper ballot Op Scans, see this:

http://utahcountvotes.org/docs/cost_comparison.html

Good luck stopping DRE adoption in NY.

BTW - Two other issues you may need to know about:

1. DRE proponents here in Utah secretly spread false rumours among our Voting Equipment Selection Cmte members that the Op Scan paper ballot could not handle as many ballot issues as the old punch card system here. Undoubtedly, they will similarly spread false rumours in New York to prevent the adoption of a hand recountable paper ballot system. I have spoken to the vendor which sells the AutoMARK ballot marking system that is endorsed by the National Federation of the Blind, and is much better for wheelchair-bound persons than the DREs, and they have already developed a paper ballot system that WILL meet the requirements for NY's full face ballot.

2. ES&S is the only vendor of DREs that I know of, who has developed an open source method for independently auditing its paper rolls on its DRE system, so at least ES&S' DREs are geek-auditable by anyone who wants to build a system to audit them. I prefer paper that is auditable by anyone, but if DREs are purchased, at the very least an open source independently auditable system should be demonstrated by the vendor so that election offices can independently audit their vote counts.

Best,
Kathy Dopp
http://utahcountvotes.org
http://electionarchive.org

[Bill Bored]

3. Welcome to DU Kathy

What took you so long?
(I know, you've been lurking!);)

[Bill Bored]

4. Regarding #2...

I thought the paper rolls were supposed to be hand audited. That's independent too! What else have they come up with?

[Bill Bored]

5. kick