NY Loves Its Levers as New Systems Fail

In Count Every Vote, I expand on this last point: Because repeated scientific studies show that software-driven voting systems provide us with no rational basis to trust reported results, in those jurisdictions that use computerized voting systems and that do audit the voter-completed ballot, only a tiny percentage of all ballots cast is reliably counted. This represents well over 90% of US elections with less than 5% of all ballots reliably counted.  

Unless the audit is done at the precinct, on election night, before observers of different political faith, Novick points out that even the audit count is not reliable, since continuous observation of the ballots ends after election night.  Once this chain of custody is broken, there is no proof that the ballots counted during the audit "represent the actual ballots cast at election." 

New York's 2005 electoral scheme (ERMA) seeks to mimic this unsound and unconstitutional practice of only counting a small percentage of all ballots cast, allowing the audit to be performed two weeks after the election, when continuous observation of the ballots has long ended. 

New York has a choice right now.  It can stand its ground, as it has for the past six years, and save its sound, secure, functioning electoral system, or it can follow the rest of the nation over the cliff by implementing non-securable, unreliable, computerized voting technology that removes all rational basis for confidence in reported results.

The ship has not yet sailed, New York: save the levers.

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