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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Ulster County & Voting Machines

Resolution for public hearing at 6 PM tomorrow, UC office Bldg:
http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/resolution-archives/2007/433-07.pdf
Proposed local law:
http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/resolution-archives/2007/ILL%20No.%201%20of%202008.pdf
From Gary Bischoff:
"I have strong feelings about what type of voting machine Ulster County should have. There is no question in my mind that we should have Paper Ballot - Optical Scan (PB/OS) as opposed to Direct Recording Electronic (DRE). "
There have been many problems with DREs, and in fact several states including Maryland, Colorado, California and Ohio are scrapping DREs. There have been problems starting the machines on election day, machines dying during an election (just like when your PC dies due to a Windows problem), voter confusion, mysterious lost votes and outright hacking. Computer professionals who know and understand computer software and voting technology are against DREs. With DREs there is no paper trail built in. In other words, if there is a failure at any point during an election, the votes can not be retrieved. No recount is possible in a close election. DRE manufacturers have tried to correct this by adding a printer that prints out a paper record of each voter's selections. The added printer caused more problems. The printers have been another source of failure and the printer port added another security exposure because a hacker could get into the inner workings of the machine via the printer port. It takes longer for a voter to vote on a DRE than a paper ballot, causing either election day lines or more expense for additional machines.
PB/OS has many advantages, with the most important being that there is a verifiable paper trail with a ballot that is actually marked by the voter. It is a less complex system and a proven technology. It is less costly not only for the initial purchase, but for storage, maintenance and less reliance on expensive professionals employed by the vendor. When an election district grows, all that is necessary is to add more privacy stations where voters can fill in their paper ballots. One optical scanner machine can service many stations since it only takes a few seconds to put the paper into the machine, where it is read and the paper ballot falls into a locked box.
There was a decision late in January by the New York State Board of Elections regarding voting machines that should be used in every polling place in New York for handicapped accessible voting. New York State has rejected DREs and approved only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for use in 2008 polling places. This decision by the State Board of Elections virtually guarantees that New York State will vote on paper ballots and ballot scanners when it finally replaces lever machines in 2009. However, Liberty, a manufacturer of DREs, has announced that they are resorting to legal action to try to change the State BOE decision. There will be other pressures and we need to remain vigilant since there is so much money involved in the implementation of voting machines across New York.
The law we are proposing for Ulster County is simple in that it requires any voting technology to provide a paper ballot that is marked by the actual voter. Ulster County would be the first county in New York to have a more stringent law regarding voting machine technology than the state or federal government. The hearing will be held at the Ulster County Office Building, 244 Fair Street, Kingston at 6 p.m. on February 6. Members of the public are invited and encouraged to speak at this hearing.

Gary Bischoff



Ulster County Legislators in Friend of Court appeal on Voting Machines...Legislators, Susan Zimet, D-New Paltz and Gary Bischoff, D-Saugerties joined in the submission. In Dutchess County, Legislator Joel Tyner submitted a brief.
See the Press Release here http://gary4ulster.com/media/pr/press_release06.html

Read Andi Novick's explanation of the suit to be filed in the
US vs NYS BOE and NYS here http://gary4ulster.com/inside_out/page/other/voting_mach/andi_novick.html

Declaration of Voting Principles
a well written piece on voting by Mary Ann Gould herehttp://gary4ulster.com/inside_out/page/other/voting_mach/voting_principals.html

For Gary's side by side analysis of Voting Machines click here
http://gary4ulster.com/inside_out/page/other/voting_mach/voting_principals.html

Paper Trails

This was posted today:
Subject: Breaking News - NY rejects DREs!
Reply-To: contact@nyvv.org
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." -Mohandas Gandhi
I'm pleased to announce that after five years of hard work on the part of voting integrity advocates, New York State has rejected DREs and approved only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for use in 2008 polling places. This momentous decision by the State Board of Elections virtually guarantees that New York State will vote on paper ballots and ballot scanners when it finally replaces lever machines in 2009.
Those of you who were with us at the beginning five years ago know what an enormous victory this is. When I first started traveling, presenting and advocating in New York, election officials, political parties, and machnne vendors assumed that New York State was going to be a DRE state. Precinct scanners were not under discussion, and only DREs were offered by vendors. Our experience over these five years reflects the truth of Gandhi's statement - indeed we were ignored, then laughed at, then fought bitterly by the voting machine vendors and their supporters in the election establishment. But finally, truth has prevailed, and what seemed like an impossible dream in 2003 has been made real by our hard work - New York State will be a paper ballot state.
Just yesterday, it seemed like high powered lobbyists had scuttled our hopes once again as they maneuvered to keep DREs in the mix even though they were in clear violation of New York's laws(see my post describing yesterday's events). But this morning, when the Board reconvened it was immediately obvious from the commissioners opening statements that those who were pushing for the DREs had conceded defeat. No small amount of thanks is due to Commissioner Doug Kellner (D), who firmly held the line yesterday and during a long night of backroom political maneuvering, vowing he would never approve the DRE submissions which did not fulfill the requirements of New York State election law regarding accessible voting machines.
While technically it is possible for a DRE vendor to submit and win approval for the 2009 lever machine replacement, this is highly unlikely as at least half of the HAVA funds will be spent on scanner compatible ballot markers. Since all the approved systems are components of a precinct based scanner system the least expensive> path, and the only sensible one, is for counties to complete their HAVA implementation with paper ballots and scanners. We've learned to never be complacent, but this time we have reason to be confident that the scanner compatible choices of today will inevitably lead to paper ballots for all New York voters tomorrow.
My deepest thanks to everyone who fought this long, difficult battle. This is only Round One, and I promise you we will have much, much more to do to guarantee that our elections belong to the public, and are transparent and observable. But for today, let's break out the champagne, relax, and celebrate this great victory. What was once only a slogan representing what we fought for has now become a reality - Paper Ballots for New York!
Congratulations friends. Together we have changed the course of New York State election history, and 12 million registered voters in the Empire State will vote on paper ballots, not DREs.

-Bo Lipari Executive Director New Yorkers for Verified Voting

Paper Ballots

Susan Zimet proposes paper ballots (and voting machines with a paper trial) and election officials retort that paper ballots are too cumbersome, may allow for voter fraud and hard to count. Tell that to the millions of people world wide who mark their paper ballots and slip them into boxes!

Voting machines without paper trials, with propriety programs with no oversight, are the ones that allow for potential voter fraud, and are very hard to re-count!

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19025120&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6