I am Voter Hear Me Roar: Meet the New York Amici

Over 200 pages of legal documents from dozens of organizations, activists, election officials, and county legislators, representing tens of thousands of people, spoke on behalf of hand-counted paper ballots yesterday, through an amicus curiae brief (friend of the court), filed in USA vs. NY State Board of Elections.   

In this federal case, the Dept. of Justice seeks to force New Yorkers to buy computerized voting systems, which have failed across the nation, election after election, and which the scientific community repeatedly condemns. 

Attorneys Andi Novick and Jonathan Simon, from Election Defense Alliance, head the cooperative effort.  Novick saluted the “cooperation and enthusiasm displayed by our colleagues across the election integrity spectrum,” noting that “it means a great deal in court, as well as in the court of public opinion, when so many groups and leaders pull together behind such a proposal.”   

Dave Berman’s HCPB Forecast Tool provides the Court with a simple and effective means of calculating what it would cost New York to hire a 4-person hand-counting team per precinct (Election District) should the court allow it.   

Also on December 14th, Ohio released the results of its “Project EVEREST,” but not in time to be included in the annotated bibliography of expert reports submitted in the New York case.  Ohio’s team looked at Hart InterCivic, ES&S and Premier (fka Diebold), and all systems are still hackable.  Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner insists Cuyahoga County will switch to a computerized, networked system that uses centralized tabulation, a process wholly condemned in the scientific literature. 

The Quotes 

But, ignoring that absurdity for now, have a bowl or a glass of wine (or for those who can relax without chemical assistance, sit back) and quietly contemplate these gems of wisdom from people who stand for government by the people: 

This … federal takeover of a state election board … is ‘bizarre and unworkable.’

Friend of the court, Joel Tyner, NY Dutchess County Legislator, continues: 

Secret vote counting is not only unconstitutional, but is un-American. All touch screen and optical scan voting machines … count the votes (in) secret... This is beyond absurd— from the sublime to the ridiculous.

“New York’s Constitution of 1777 makes the observation that a vote cast on a tangible ballot preserves democracy better than one cast in the air: 

And whereas an opinion hath long prevailed among divers of the good people of this State that voting at elections by ballot would tend more to preserve the liberty and equal freedom of the people than voting viva voce… 

Citing NY history (above) to make her point, Nancy Tobi of New Hampshire continues:  

With the advent of computerized voting, a new form of voting viva voce has made its way into the nation’s elections, with the lion’s share of America’s total ballots now being counted – and often cast – in the Ethernet. 

Author and four-time research award winner, Professor Steven Freeman states in his Declaration: 

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