A letter from Andi Novick

Dear Friends,

I have written to explain why I am proceeding to sue the NYS legislature for their abdication. My letter can be found at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_andi_nov_080315_open_letter_to_ny_ci.htm

In the briefest terms I am bringing this lawsuit because when our government fails us as miserably as it has, our system provides that is the judiciary to whom we should turn to stop the legislature from behaving in derogation of its responsibility to protect our constitutional right to vote. Our electoral system has always required a transparent, observable highly safeguarded process to ensure the integrity of our vote. The safeguards, intended to prevent the opportunities for fraud and manipulation, that we have enjoyed for well over a century, will be rendered non existent if we permit our vote counting to be concealed within the unobservable processes of a computer. It doesn't matter what kind of computer, be it a DRE or Optical Scanner, software driven devices have been shown to be highly vulnerable to manipulation without detection.

We know all software driven systems can be manipulated regardless of the level of security provided, but it should be known that the voting systems on the market provide no security as compared to the standards that computers used in financial transactions are subject to. And even with the standards and oversight an institution such as Hannaford grocery stores provides, just this past week millions of us had our credit cards stopped because Hannaford's computers has been hacked. Software was installed on the servers at every one of its grocery stores in 6 states, notwithstanding the firewalls, virus checks and close scrutiny that Hannaford's computers, unlike our voting computers, were subjected to. Hannaford said any single person, a technician for the vendor or a hacker, could have done this. For more on the story see http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/28/advanced_tactic_targeted_grocer?mode=PF . By the way, Hannaford's computer security did not detect the breach. It was only discovered because fraudulent transactions were being conducted. In the election industry no such mechanisms are in place that would trigger an investigation. We'd never know. What a way to run a democratic electoral system.

The stakes are a lot higher when we're talking about controlling the US treasury, a far more desirable target than our four million or so credit cards that were gotten. And we're talking about nothing less that our sovereignty when voting computers are hacked. We in New York are the only state that has not yet computerized its electoral system. Please ask yourself again what you are willing to do to fight for your freedom before the theft-enabling machines are installed in New York? If you do nothing else write to your newspapers and local media outlets. Demand coverage and investigation. Write to your legislators and send them a copy of my letter linked above. Let them know they should be ashamed of themselves. Write to our new governor, see what he's willing to do. Email me and volunteer to resist and assist.

thanks

andi novick Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media (Re-Media)

"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case." Thomas Paine
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