Below is a short list of what we've been doing and below that, what we need from you, and finally a few examples of the coverage we've been getting changing the message and developing support along the way. We are so close you can taste it- no computerized secret vote counting for NY. Help us keep this snow ball growing.

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Dear Friends,

I am sorry- this is the longest I've gone without communicating, but we've been so busy and it's paid off. Below is a short list of what we've been doing and below that, what we need from you, and finally a few examples of the coverage we've been getting changing the message and developing support along the way. We are so close you can taste it- no computerized secret vote counting for NY. Help us keep this snow ball growing.
 
Accomplished:
 
1. The litigation is ready and waiting while we build political support and resources.

2. We've been working hard providing materials and speaking with every county legislature in NYS, most of whom have been greatly appreciative and welcome the information.
-- so far we have 11 county resolutions in support of keeping the lever machines in addition to resolutions from the state-wide Associations of Towns and the InterCounty Adirondack coalition (representing 10 counties)- with many more expected.Some counties have not passed resolutions but support keeping the levers (see NY Times article cited below).

3. We have been getting a lot of media coverage across the State and are increasingly seen as the go to organization for information. We have succeeded in changing the message so that legislators and reporters are no longer just talking about which of the two software options to choose, but are now including the non software option: our mechanical lever machines (which we both own and have full control over).

4. We have testified at legislative and election board hearings, met with legislators and election commissioners, and just launched a new site to help get the information to these people and to reporters, as well as providing citizens with easy access for action to take: www.nylevers.wordpress.com

5. In addition to our regular blog at http://www.etcnys.org/ , there is a fabulous easy to grasp for those less versed blog at: http://lever-voting-machines.blogspot.com/. Between the 3 there's no excuse for being uninformed.

6. We became a project of International Humanities Center, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, which allows contributions to our work to be tax-deductible .

7. We established a name that makes more sense to the public, Election Transparency Coalition, or ETC, sometimes ETCNYS, as in www.wtcnys.org
 
What we need:

1. IMMEDIATELY - THIS WEEKEND- WE ARE ASKING YOU TO POST COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THESE 2 ARTICLES: Look at the article and blog entries and post your support for the levers:
- NY Times: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/city-defies-state-on-voting-machine-program/
- Star Gazette (Albany): http://www.stargazette.com/article/20090528/NEWS01/905280404/18+counties+to+scrap+voting+machines

2. We could really use people to post responses to the articles as they come out. We would like to put together a list of those of you who would be willing to receive emails about articles in the hope that on any given day a few of you could post that day.  If you're willing please email [email protected]

3. We need donations. We've made so much progress and we need to keep up the pressure if we're going to prevail. We really haven't been asking for money until now. We're close to being the first state to stop computerized secret vote counting.  We will save NY and set an example for the rest of the nation. We need money to keep going and we must start now, gearing up for litigation this fall -- in the event that notwithstanding the growing groundswell, NYS refuses to back down. Online tax deductible contributions can be made at  http://ihcenter.org/groups/re-mediaetc or by check made out to IHC/Election Transparency Coalition and mailed to Election Transparency Coalition , P.O. Box 113, Staatsburg, NY 12580.
 
4. Need more of you and your friends to sign the PETITION. There are at least 1,000 of you on this rather large list that have NOT YET signed the petition at click here --We have much more county government support than we have private citizen support! Please sign and pass to 50 friends. We can't present this petition to court with a couple of thousand New Yorkers- we're a big state.

5. Volunteer to help with fundraising- with individuals and foundations.

6. We need leads to large NYS law firms that might contribute additional pro bono services. This litigation has the potential to mushroom if the vendors and other try to intervene in the litigation to tell the court why they think secret vote counting is a good thing for a constitutional democracy!

7. More volunteers to contact us for specific assignments. Contact [email protected]

Thanks,

Andi and Joanne
Election Transparency Coalition
http://www.etcnys.org/
http://lever-voting-machines.blogspot.com/
www.nylevers.wordpress.com
 

We are clearly having an impact! Here's a sprinkling of the press coverage

1) The NY Times article cited above, City Resists State on Voting-Machine Program begins:
"A long-delayed effort by New York State to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, enacted after the 2000 election debacle, is encountering resistance in New York City, where officials insist on keeping the mechanical-lever voting machines that have been a mainstay of local elections since 1962."
 
2) State voting machine mandate all the 'rage' , http://www.denpubs.com/Articles-c-2009-05-14-59185.113116-sub_State_voting_machine_mandate_all_the_rage.html:
"The impending New York State mandate that will require counties to replace lever voting machines with electronic ballot counters by 2010 has many counties rebelling.... " Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Fred Monroe said."We need to join with other counties and reject this mandate.""We need to join with other counties and reject this mandate."

3) Group Votes to Save the Lever Voting System http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/05/28/save_levers/
"The Election Transparency Coalition (ETC), which is encouraging counties, cities, towns, and community groups to join the fight to save lever voting machines, calls ERMA an "unfunded mandate" that counties cannot afford. "As I talk to county officials around the state, I find that many of them are angry," says ETC legal counsel Andrea Novick. "They say, 'We have a system that works. Why should we be forced to replace it with something more expensive, less dependable, and more vulnerable to creating a new Tammany Hall?' States all over the country that have moved to electronic systems are regretting it. NY is the only state that still has its dependable voting system. It would be totally irresponsible to abandon it."
 
4) More counties urge state to keep lever voting, http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20090527-4.html
"More and more counties are realizing that just because they've used federal funds to acquire computers which enable citizens with special needs to create ballots, doesn't mean it's too late to preserve the superior and reliable vote counting system afforded by our lever machines," said Andrea Novick, an attorney representing the Coalition. "Counties are looking at the excessive costs they will incur if optical scanners are employed to count votes and recognizing the unfunded mandate that ERMA truly is. Particularly at this time when budgets everywhere are tight, it's outrageous for the State to require counties to surrender their affordable lever voting system, which has protected our constitutional rights by enabling demonstrable control of the count, to an unaffordable computerized system that violates our constitutional rights by relying on secretly programmed software, proven vulnerable to undetectable manipulation. County governments object to being put in this position, as they should."
 
5) Older lever booths get a vote of confidence, http://www.poststar.com/articles/2009/05/10/news/local/14759943.txt:
"The concern primarily with electronic voting machines their lack of transparency and their lack of reliability," said Joanne Lukacher, the director of the Election Transparency Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group that backs lever voting machines. "There is no way to see or verify that your vote has counted or has been cast.... Throughout the country, these machines have been questioned," she said. "It's based on a constitutional issue of being able to see that your vote has full force and effect."

6) The Times Union published this Op Ed: Clear Evidence: Lever Voting Works (written by us!):
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=790729&category=COMMENTARY

THIS IS THE TIME TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP- YOU CAN REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE- WE'RE IN THE FINAL PUSH AND WE NEED EVERYONE  --THANKS

More people have been elected between sundown and sunup than ever were elected between sunup and sundown. Will Rogers

Authors Website: http://electiontransparencycoalition.org/

Authors Bio:
Andi Novick
Election Transparency Coalition, www.etcnys.org, http://nylevers.wordpress.com/