Anne McCabe, our former Union Vale Democratic Committee Co-chair, forwarded this from a group she works with near Albany, where she and Bill are now living.
We’re asking for you to make one phone call and send an email letter to ensure that Automatic Voter Registration becomes law and that hybrid voting machines are banned in New York. Please do this before the weekend.
Thank you,
Voting Reform Committee
Urgent Actions for Voting Reform
(1) From Let NY Vote: Call the governor
Governor Cuomo needs to hear from you RIGHT AWAY! Please call 518-474-8390 [press 1 if after 5 pm, press 2 if 9 am-5 pm] and leave a message [1 is recorded, 2 is an “agent”] that you want Governor Cuomo to sign the Automatic Voter Registration (S8806/A8280) into law this week.
Background: In July 2020, the New York State legislature passed automatic voter registration (AVR), a landmark policy that would address the state’s consistently low voter turnout and add over 1.1 million eligible voters to the rolls. The bill has been with Governor Cuomo since Friday, waiting to be signed. York! That’s why we’re counting on you to help us remind him by reaching out to him by phone. New York has consistently ranked among the lowest states in terms of voter registration. The latest count ranks the state in the bottom four states in the country. That’s an embarrassment.
(2) From SMART Elections: Write a letter
Send a letter to Governor Cuomo and the NYS Board of Elections demanding that hybrid voting machines be banned in New York. There’s real concern that the New York State Board of Elections will certify the use of unsecure voting machines during their January 7 monthly meeting.
Below is a letter template, and instructions. This can be done via email.
SMART Elections Letter Template to Governor and NYS Board of Elections (BOE) 12-2020
Please send this letter, or your own comments on hybrid voting systems, to the following email addresses today. This will reach the NY State Board of Elections Commissioners and SMART Elections will receive a copy and we will publish your letters:
Todd.valentine@elections.ny.gov
Then copy and paste it into this form to reach Governor Cuomo:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
Please sign your name and where you live at the bottom.
Dear Governor Cuomo, and the NY State Board of Election Commissioners,
You must ban hybrid voting machines in New York. Hybrid voting systems that combine a ballot-marking device, printer and scanner functions have the ability to add fake votes to paper ballots and steal elections without detection. Election security experts are calling these systems a “disaster.”
Please watch this investigative report https://smartelections.us/ and read this paper by three election security experts https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3375755 to learn more.
I deserve to know that my vote will be counted accurately, and I do not want to vote on a hybrid system.
One hybrid voting machine from Dominion called the ImageCast Evolution or “ICE” machine was certified last fall and is in use in at least fifteen NY counties. Another hybrid, the ES&S ExpressVote XL, is being reviewed for New York certification currently.
Regarding the Dominion “ICE”: The state’s own testing lab said that if an attack did occur, “then a forensic analysis would be needed on all ballots in question to determine if a human or machine made the mark. Such a process is unlikely to be trusted by the public.” It rated the impact of such an attack as “Very High.”https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PrFLQqvDLZm3mBpDF3s3xHU1mPRpuljc/view?usp=sharing (page 12)
There are numerous additional problems with hybrid voting systems.
- The ExpressVote XL uses a touch screen. Touch screen systems have many security risks, and if not calibrated correctly, can change votes. NY has never approved them.
- The ExpressVote XL counts votes with barcodes. Voters cannot read barcodes and barcode readers can be hacked to change votes. The barcode-based setup “makes a mockery of the notion that the ballot is ‘voter-verifiable,’” said Duncan Buell, a computer science professor at the University of South Carolina, because “what the voter verifies is not what is tallied.” – Politico
- Hybrid systems are among the most expensive on the market. Estimates from other states show them being two to four times as expensive as standard digital scan machines, when one includes maintenance, storage and the fact that more machines are necessary per polling place. For example, one touch screen voting machine can serve far fewer voters than a digital scanner, increasing costs exponentially.
- Hybrid voting machines, can cause long lines at the polls if there are not enough machines. A lack of adequate voting machines has been found to unequally disenfranchise communities of color.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/upshot/why-long-voting-lines-today-could-have-long-term-consequences.html
Voters with disabilities must be able to vote privately, independently and comfortably, but their votes must be counted accurately. We need both accessibility and security. Focusing on properly maintaining, setting-up and training poll workers on our current ballot-marking devices, will help more than certifying expensive, dangerous equipment that we do not need.
New York can be a national leader on this issue, as they have been in the past, demonstrating what strong election security protocols look like. We want to continue voting on durable, hand-marked paper ballots, with ballot-marking devices for voters who need them. That process is working, because it allows for elections to be audited with a hand-count of trusted paper ballots. I want to have confidence that my vote will count and I do not want to vote on a hybrid. Please de-certify the “ICE” machine and refuse certification to the ExpressVote XL.
Sincerely,