NY: Columbia County Democratic Election Commissioner Virginia Martin Favors Lever Machines

[Wilms]

Martin favors lever machines

By Francesca Olsen
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

Saturday, September 26, 2009

As part of a continuing campaign to keep lever voting machines in use in Columbia County and New York State, Democratic election commissioner Virginia Martin held her ground last week as a member of a panel concerning the machines and their use, speaking at the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC).

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Under the state's Election Reform and Modernization Act of 2005 (ERMA), lever machines would be prohibited and would have to be replaced by computerized voting machines, either touch-screen or optical scanners. But ERMA doesn’t provide funding for counties and municipalities to replace their machines.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), which inspired the ERMA legislation, does not require municipalities get rid of their lever machines or replace them with touch-screen or optical scanners.

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The board of supervisors did pass a resolution in support of keeping lever machines for use at the county level this year.

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“She was the only voice of reason,” said Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook, speaking of Martin, who attended the NYSAC conference. “The state Board of Elections have never argued that HAVA does not require the destruction of the lever machines.

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“I actually love the technology of the optical scanners,” McGivney said. “But their safety has not been proven, certified, or in any way assured. As expensive as they are, they are cheaply made and nowhere near the security of an ATM machine. And we need the same quality for voting as we do for handling our money.”

“One of the problems in going to electronic voting is that we’re relying on hidden software to do the counting, and we really don’t know how that happens. We don’t know how software counts. The programmers know, but it’s not programmers who are at the county level, or the town level, or the poll site level,” said Martin. “The ordinary person does not understand how a computer counts votes.”

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http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2009/09/26/news/doc4abda3ed27502588422063.txt


ER Forum Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x514313

[aquart]

1. Love my levers!