http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/poststandard/letters/index.ssf?/base/opinion-1/1137577281210980.xml&coll=1
The Post-Standard, Syracuse.com
January 18, 2006
By Lenore Rapalski
League of Women Voters
On Jan. 9, the League of Women Voters-Syracuse Metro area, in
conjunction with other grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations,
presented the advantages of the paper ballot/optical scan voting system to the
Onondaga County Legislature's Ways and Means Committee.
Bo Lipari, retired software engineer and executive director
of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, made a convincing argument for a system
that meets the league's criteria of accuracy, security, recountability and
accessibility.
The paper ballot/optical scan system meets New York state's
requirement that a verifiable paper trail be created in case a recount is
needed.
Votes are counted by the optical scan machine when the voter
inserts the ballot they have marked by hand in private. The AutoMARK
ballot-marking device makes the paper ballot/optical scan system accessible for
the disabled.
In addition to the above criteria, the League of Women
Voters of New York State and its chapters endorse the paper ballot/optical
scanners because they are less expensive than the touch screen DREs (Direct
Recording Electronic systems).
They are less expensive both in purchase price - with
estimated savings of roughly $1 million - and for storage and maintenance
costs, which the county will have to absorb once federal monies have been used
to purchase the equipment.
Election Commissioner Ed Szczeniak observed that the cost to
print paper ballots for Onondaga County could range from $1 to $1.25 per
ballot. New Yorkers for Verified Voting research shows that a quote from Dayton
Legal Blank (a certified ballot printer in Ohio) to print optical scan ballots
for Schenectady County was 29 cents per ballot. That is considerably less than
Mr. Szczeniak's per ballot cost estimate.
It is also important to note that the touch screen DREs do
not eliminate the need for paper ballots since a paper trail is part of New
York state's requirement for replacement equipment.
Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland was correct in saying
that the state Board of Elections has yet to certify any machines.
Because the League is a strong believer in proactively
educating the public on issues vital to our democracy, it conducts thorough and
extensive studies before advocating or endorsing a specific course of action.
In this particular instance, the state League conducted a two-year study of the
voting machine issue.
Paper ballot/optical scanners and touch screen DREs have a
history in the United States that can be researched. Like New York's lever
machines, they have been used in election precincts for years. That experience
reveals a variety of performance and accuracy problems in the operation of
touch screen DRE systems.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons of both types of
voting systems, the League of Women Voters believes the paper ballot/optical
scan system best meets voters' needs and the stated selection criteria.
Informative Web sites on this issue include the State League of Women Voters
www.lwvny.org, New Yorkers for Verified Voters, www.nyvv.org, and Black Box
Voting at www.BlackBoxVoting.org .
Lenore Rapalski, of Liverpool, is with the League of Women
Voters-Syracuse Metro Area and is a liaison for Paper Ballot/Optical Scan
System.
Partisan politics backs voting system into corner
To the Editor:
You report (Jan. 13 Post-Standard) that Commissioner
Szczesniak responded to the Department of Justice's threat to sue New York for
non-compliance with the Help America Vote Act (2002) by saying, "I sense
that we're being backed into" a corner. New York has painted itself into
this corner by allowing its vital functions to be paralyzed by partisan
politics.
The New York Board of Elections had almost four years to
work out implementation of HAVA. Finally, after Gov. Pataki last month
appointed a second Democratic commissioner, the board's membership is complete.
Only this week (Jan. 10) the board named companies that will prepare the voter
database and test machines for certification.
Other states scrambled to get such HAVA requirements in
place as well as to order voting machines before 2006. New York still lacks
regulations to govern certification of machines.
The draft regulations now under consideration reveal another
problem in the administration of our elections. These regulations rely heavily
on vendors to do much of the testing of their own machines.
Many election officials across the U.S. have long been
closely associated with vendors. The by-laws of the Election Commissioners'
Association of New York call for vendors to be invited to all of their
conferences.
At the same time, however, New Yorkers for Verified Voting
(www.nyvv.org , a non-partisan, non-profit citizens group, has been denied its
request to have a table at the ECA conference in Cooperstown this week.
Wanda Warren Berry
Board of Directors
New Yorkers for Verified Voting
Hamilton
Follow Oregon's lead and go the low-tech route
To the Editor:
The Jan. 13 headline of The Post-Standard was very
disturbing: "New York Last in Nation For New Voting Machines; State may
have to use old machines; federal government threatens suit." Our state is
being threatened by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. We
will be sued by the federal government if we don't comply with HAVA (Help
America Vote Act) and buy easily-hacked, privately-owned and
partisan-controlled computerized voting machines. The computerized counts on
these machines are not open to public scrutiny by election officials, computer
experts or members of the community because of their "patented
software." That makes the vote count a secret. That's against the law. And
it makes every future election in America subject to manipulation.
The Justice Department goes on to claim that New York is
lagging behind every other state in complying with HAVA requirements. Oregon
has all-mail voting. Since Oregon doesn't use machines, New York cannot
possibly be behind every other state. The Justice Department is implying there
is no alternative, and has also "declined to say whether any other states
were facing possible lawsuits because of HAVA delays." New York has a
right to this information.
There is no reason New York cannot follow in Oregon's
footsteps and institute the same "low-tech, low-cost, reliable and
convenient system that makes it easier to vote and easier to count votes."
If not, to quote Joseph Stalin, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing.
Those who count the votes decide everything."
Vi Ransel
Earlville
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