Press Release December 17 Ulster County Legislators in Friend of Court appeal on Voting Machines

Two Ulster County Legislators have joined with thirty other election integrity groups, legislators, authors and scholars in an amicus curiae submission to the US District Court for the Northern District of New York. Legislators, Susan Zimet, D-New Paltz and Gary Bischoff, D-Saugerties joined in the submission. In Dutchess County, Legislator Joel Tyner submitted a brief. New York Attorney Andrea Novick of Election Defense Alliance (EDA) filed an amicus brief in United States v New York State Board of Elections (Case # 1:06-cv-263), tentatively scheduled to be argued in United States Federal Court in Albany on December 20 by EDA Attorney Jonathan Simon. The amicus brief seeks to inform the court with respect to U.S.A. v New York State Board of Elections. Coming before the Court on behalf of over two dozen election integrity groups and several prominent individuals, the suit seeks to avert the possible Department of Justice takeover of New York's 2008 federal election and their mandating the purchase of electronic equipment shown to be error- and manipulation-prone. Novick recognized that the standoff between the federal DOJ and New York presented what Simon called "an opportunity to offer an alternative solution that moves away from disastrous experiences of other states’ use of secret, computerized electronic vote counting equipment." The brief argues that New York's currently-used mechanical lever voting machines are legal under the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), if supplemented by accessible ballot-marking equipment for voters with special needs. It also argues that, if the court were not to agree, hand counting the two Federal races in New York in 2008, together with the addition of a disabled-accessible Ballot Marking Device in every polling site, will bring the state fully into compliance with HAVA as sought by the DOJ. The brief offers over 200 pages of supporting documentation--including evidence and analysis of outcome-determinative electronic vote mistabulation, as well as guides, tools, and detailed instructions for hand counting -- prepared and submitted by election reformists from a broad spectrum of organizations. 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 are in complete agreement about the solutions proposed." In a recent filing the U.S. Justice Department asked the court to assume control of the selection of voting machines for New York State because the Board of Elections has failed to meet deadlines set by the court. The groups and individuals joined in this amicus brief hope to avoid this outcome because it would likely result in untested electronic voting machines being imposed upon the voters of New York State. A crescendo of criticism has been directed at Direct Recording Electronic voting machines (DREs) due to the many reports of machine failure and apparent manipulation of vote tabulations in recent elections. Legislator Gary Bischoff, is critical of the Justice Department's position. "I object to the Justice Department forcing a decision on New York State, effectively ignoring the state’s certification testing program. The DOJ is saying some machine, any machine, be selected, and used for the 2008 election. The travesty of this position becomes obvious when many other states are presently scrapping their DREs in favor of a paper ballot system. The Justice Department does not have the best interests of New York voters at heart in this case”. Two other amicus briefs are expected to be submitted in this case. The association of County Election Commissioners is asking to be heard and several additional voting integrity groups have joined in an additional appeal. New Yorkers for Verified Voting, The League of Woman Voters, The New York Public Interest Research Group and Citizen Action of New York are also suggesting the adoption of paper ballot voting rather than DRE electronic voting machines. U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe could rule in this case as early as this week. Citizens interested in learning more about voting technology should refer to Gary Bischoff’s web site at www.gary4ulster.com. * * * Press Contact: Gary Bischoff 246-6858 or g@gary4ulster.com