Urgent Action Alert:The Decision On Voting Machines For NY State Is Imminent!

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The Decision On Voting Machines For New York State Is Imminent!

As a result of the Department of Justice lawsuit regarding New York State's
lever machine replacement, New York State's county level election
commissioners have until February 8, 2008 to choose whether to use either a
paper ballot based ballot marker and scanner system, or a direct recording
electronic (DRE) voting system for each county.

After reaching a compromise with the federal court to provide ballot marking devices for disabled voters in each polling places in 2008, the New York State Board of Elections has recklessly redefined ballot marking devices to include DRE voting machines. Let's be clear - the untested DRE devices which commissioners are now empowered to purchase are not Ballot Marking Devices, they are DRE touch screen voting machines. Because this choice will commit over half of the funding available for new voting machines, if a county selects a DRE in February your county will vote on touch screen voting machines.

Concerned New Yorkers can help by notifying the county commissioners of the
importance of choosing a paper ballot based system, and putting the media
spotlight on the issue. It is urgent that you contact your local election
commissioners in writing before the end of the month, and include newspapers
and county legislators in that correspondence.

Contact information for all of New York State's county level election
commissioners can be found at the New York State Board of Elections web site:

Contact information for all of New York State's county level election
commissioners can be found at the New York State Board of Elections web
site:
Click to access County Board of Elections contact information:
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/portal/page?_pageid=35,1,35_8677:35_8685&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Duplicate, sign and send the following letter to county level election
commissioners, and your local media and county legislators:
Click to access Sample Letter:
http://www.nyvv.org/newdoc/ActNowJan08/LetterToCounty.rtf

Please act now! The decision whether you will vote on electronic touch
screen voting machines or voter marked paper ballots will be made in the next few weeks !

See our action page on NYVV's website:
http://www.nyvv.org/ActJan08.shtml

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Contact NY commissioners and say "no" to DREs

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

www.nyvv.org

Bo Lipari is the executive director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.