Government
The reforms ADA would like to institute in New York State are too numerous to list here. Obviously we support a government with clear laws and little opportunity for corruption. Overly complex processes in the passing of the budget and election law make true progress in legislation difficult if not impossible, and leave certain groups out of the decision making process altogether.
We support:
A truly
non-partisan committee to re-apportion districts.
In Albany, the Senate Republicans reapportion the Senate Seats and the Assembly
Democrats apportion the Assembly seats. This creates a colossal conflict of
interest, and means that the Assembly and Senate maintain their party allegiance,
and as a result, are in regular deadlock over almost every issue. Real re-apportionment
might break the deadlock and allow reform legislation to be passed by both
houses.
A streamlining
of the budget process. Every year the New York
State budget is late because of wrangling between the Assembly, the State
Senate, and the Governor. We believe that the entire process needs to be overhauled.
A simplification
in the State court structure. The court structure
of the State is overly complex, and leads to cases continually being passed
from court to court. The districts are also uneven in size, with one appellate
division covering half of the state. We support Chief Judge Kaye's plan to
reform the court system.
Election
reform. We believe it is vital that the system
of electing candidates be radically reformed. We support a system of elections
in the State similar to that currently enjoyed in New York City, with substantial
public financing of candidates and mandatory full disclosure of donor information.
In addition, we support the effort by Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor
to allow on the ballot "all nationally recognized candidates who want to appear"
(after the recent effort by George W. Bush to keep John McCain off of the
New York State ballot, this is a timely measure). We also support the effort
by Assemblymember Scott Stringer to institute same-day voter registration
in New York. Also see our campaign finance section
for more of our positions on election reform.
STATEMENT OF EVELYN JONES RICH ON RESOLUTIONS #131 AND #228
REGARDING NEW YORK CITY VOTING MACHINES -
NY CITY COUNCIL GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
April 24, 2006
Good afternoon, Chairman Felder, and members of the Government Operations Committee.
I am Evelyn Jones Rich, Chair, City Issues Committee, New York City Americans
for Democratic Action (ADA). I am pleased to associate NYC ADA with the views
of our colleagues from New Yorkers for Verified Voting in urging the Committee
Members to sponsor, report out of Committee and adopt Resolution 131 and Resolution
228. Thanks to Councilman Peter Valone Jr. from my old stomping ground in Astoria
who is an early sponsor of this legislation.
First, about NYC and National ADA. New York City ADA is the local affiliate
of Americans for Democratic Action, an independent, liberal, political organization,
founded in 1947 and dedicated to promoting individual liberty and economic justice
through education and political action. Our past members include Eleanor Roosevelt
and Hubert Humphrey. Our current members include Congressmembers Carolyn Maloney
and Jerrold Nadler, Borough President Scott Stringer, and City Council Persons,
Gale Brewer and G. Oliver Koppel.
Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) after the 2000 presidential
election disaster and authorized $3.8 billion to help states upgrade voter equipment
and establish state-wide voter registration data bases.
HAVA formed the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to help states spend the
federal dollars on voting systems and create a process to certify voting equipment.
Delays up and down the line mean that New York State is last in voting reform.
Voting machine manufacturers are promoting Direct Recording Electronic (DRE)
voting machines - particularly "touch screen" models - and have launched
a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to convince state election officials
to certify them.
Touch screen voting machines rely on computers to count votes but there is no
back-up copy in case of a crash and no way to detect tampering. Believe it or
not, in the U.S. today a majority of the electorate casts ballots on computers
that run software hidden from view and lacking any independent way of verification.
NYC ADA passed a resolution in February 2006 supporting Precinct Based Optical
Scanning (PBOS) which insures that the voter's intent is accurately recorded
on the legal ballot of record.
Specifically, we support the use of paper ballots hand-marked by voters. We
favor the use of ballot-marking devices by voters with disabilities and voters
in the state's minority language communities. These three options represent,
in our view, the only way, at this time, to provide both accessibility
and transparency in voting, consistent with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
PBOS voting systems have been used for 20 years - they are time-tested, reliable,
cost less and retain local public bipartisan control of elections. ADA forwarded
a copy of that resolution to all members of this committee, to District Leaders,
and members of Board of Elections at the local and state level.
We could dwell at length on reasons why we oppose Direct Recording Electronic
(DRE) Machines. Those who favor the more costly DRE's will do that!
NYC ADA supports PBOS for three basic reasons.
First, paper ballots do not rely on blind faith (as does DRE) but insure
that there is a physical vote and, therefore, the ability to audit, to count
and recount with both accuracy and honesty. From North Carolina to Ohio
to Texas, votes have been lost or miscounted. Voting technology must be transparent.
No one can observe the handling of paperless electronic ballots. The average
citizen may have blind faith in computers. We, in ADA, do not!
Secondly, paper ballots enable the voter to verify that his/her vote is tabulated
correctly. The paper ballot, therefore, insures the integrity of our democratic
system and closes the door to the possibility of fraud. Voter participation
is an important bulwark of our democracy. Yet, in the 2004 Presidential Election
only 60% of eligible voters turned out. Today, the US ranks 139th out of 163
democracies in the rate of voter participation. If citizens don't think that
their vote counts, they won't vote! Paper ballots protect against fraud and,
thus, encourage voter participation.
Finally, those most alarmed with the use of computers in voting are computer
experts! For example, Avi Rubin, Director of Computer Security Systems at
Johns Hopkins University is quoted in the Baltimore Sun as saying that
"it is much easier to hide malicious software than to detect it."
In a 2004 election in Baltimore there were 6500 more ballots cast than voters!
Rubin believes that it's impossible to secure an accurate vote count without
a paper ballot and has written extensively on the reasons why so-called "electronic
paper trails" are meaningless.
Vendors including Liberty, Avante, and Sequoia Pacific should not be permitted
to dictate and then vet the process which undergirds our system of government
and, as our representatives, you ought not permit them to do so!
City Council Resolution #131 urges the adoption of paper ballots and precinct-based
optical scanners and accessible ballot-marking machines for voters with disabilities
and minority languages.
Resolution #228 urges the NYC Board of Elections to hold public hearings before
selecting new voting machines. It also urges public testing to verify that the
machines work before selecting them.
Similar legislation (H.R. 550 - the gold standard for federal paper record bills)
is pending at the national level
It's time for all of you to step up to the plate. Support PBOS. Do it once!
Do it right. Do it now! Get it right the first time!
The following are some links to testimony and newsletter articles relating to government and government reform. If you have other questions about ADA policy, please feel free to contact us at nycada@spacelab.net.
From October, 1997:
No Con Con
School Facilities Bond Act: Vote Yes
From January, 1998:
Scrooge Strikes Again
From June, 1998:
Pataki Slashes Budget
From October, 1998:
These two articles are actually resolutions adopted by the ADA National Board, and are reprinted in full.
No Impeachable Offenses
Kenneth Starr
From February, 1999:
President Acquitted
Council Elections
From November, 1999:
Vote "NO" On Charter "Reform"
From March 2000:
Voting In New York
Testimony
6/07/98, Chapter President Marvin Rich - Charter Commission
8/12/99, Education Chair Evelyn Jones Rich - Charter Commission
8/12/99, Chapter President Marvin Rich - Charter Commission
Some of the information in these articles may be out of date. These documents are meant as a record of NYC ADA's positions and opinions.
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