NYVV Asks Voting System Vendors for Announcements, Plans and Promises

[Wilms]

NYVV Asks Voting System Vendors for Announcements, Plans and Promises

by Howard Stanislevic

Monday, April 20, 2009

In an April 15th open letter to vendors of computerized voting equipment, New Yorkers for Verified Voting (NYVV) cited what they call "the growing ill-will" and "understandably increased voter skepticism that many New Yorkers feel" toward the machines these companies want to sell to New York.

~snip~

Now, says NYVV, the vendors have made the task of "creating enthusiasm" for this new kind of system even more difficult. Indeed, they say, the vendors' delays are making some New Yorkers "increasingly impatient" about the change.

To remedy this situation, NYVV urges the vendors to improve their image in order to "encourage citizen confidence." Their advice to the purveyors of these shoddy products:

* announce quality improvement and staffing plans;
* negotiate "supportive" policies for software licensing;
* promise to adhere to original pricing; and
* announce an "open source" software provision.

~snip~

"I'm sure NYVV means well, but I question whether any assurances from vendors can make unverified, computerized vote-counting safe," said Joanne Lukacher, Executive Director of the Election Transparency Coalition.

~snip~

"Federal law does not require the replacement of lever voting machines. They work well, we own them and they cost next to nothing. So why not keep them?" Lukacher said.

~snip~

http://e-voter.blogspot.com/2009/04/nyvv-asks-voting-system-vendors-for.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Fingers crossed. nt

[Bill Bored]

2. And then there's THIS:

Despite these difficulties, NYVV has continued to advocate for replacing New York’s mechanical lever voting system with a system of paper ballots, 97% of which will be counted only by computers.

According to New York's Election Reform and Modernization Act (ERMA), which requires the levers' replacement, paper ballots from only 3% of the computerized optical scanners must be hand-counted -- up to two weeks after an election. This has raised concerns among statisticians and election integrity advocates alike.

Yeah, let's just throw those scanners out there at the polls and worry about all that vote-counting stuff later -- after the levers are rusting in a landfill somewhere. Meanwhile if we just ask the vendors on bended knee for "announcements, plans and promises", I'm sure they'll take really good care of our elections. That's real election integrity, or should I say "verified voting?"

[kster]

3. K&R.nt