Breakdown at the Board (Bo Lipari) -OUTRAGEOUS!-

[annabanana]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bo_lipar_080124_breakdown_at_the_boa.htm

Protecting vendors, not voters

As I sit here, I’m embarrassed. I’m 56 years old, I have been a New Yorker for 56 years, and I’m embarrassed on behalf of the State of New York. I write these words tonight and they come from my heart, but I am not the first to say them. Today they come from me because I witnessed an appalling display of how willing are some in the State Board of Elections to represent the interests of DRE vendors, even when this directly conflicts with the interests of voters and the requirements of state law.

~snip~

In full view of the public and press, one half of the 4 person Democratic and Republican controlled State Board of Elections delayed and impeded, allowing no discussion to take place for seven hours until after 5:30pm press deadlines had passed. At one point, acting like spoiled children, they simply refused to come into the conference room to join Commissioner Doug Kellner (D) so that a quorum could be formed, stonewalling any debate on this critical question. Commissioners Neal Kelleher (R) and Helena Moses Donahue (R) showed no respect for over 100 county commissioners and members of the public by making us wait for over 7 hours before they would even allow discussion to take place.

~snip~
At the end of this long, long day I witnessed a subtle, but even more upsetting scene. As people were filing out and the room emptied I happened to see Bobby Witko, the president of LibertyVote, (the DRE machine vendor) gently pat one of the commissioners on the shoulder and quietly say “Good job”. A good job indeed. But not, unfortunately, for the voters of New York State.

[jimshoes]

1. If money should ever become useless

so will people like kelleher and donahue. As it is they are nothing but water boys for corporate amerikkka.

[annabanana]

2. Apparently Kelleher held firm

from the article:

What did seem to matter was finding some way, any way, to try to force Commissioner Kellner (D) to approve the LibertyVote DRE so that the politically connected company could stay in the game of profiting large from New York’s HAVA funds.

To his credit, Commissioner Kellner (D) did not give, and for today at least, profit did not succeed over principle.

[Nite Owl]

3. I got this email late last night:

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win."
-Mohandas Gandhi

I'm pleased to announce that after five years of hard work on the part of
voting integrity advocates, New York State has rejected DREs and approved
only the Automark and the Sequoia ImageCast scanner/marker for use in 2008
polling places. This momentous decision by the State Board of Elections
virtually guarantees that New York State will vote on paper ballots and
ballot scanners when it finally replaces lever machines in 2009.

Those of you who were with us at the beginning five years ago know what an
enormous victory this is. When I first started traveling, presenting and
advocating in New York, election officials, political parties, and the media
assumed that New York State was going to be a DRE state. Precinct scanners
were not under discussion, and only DREs were offered by vendors. Our
experience over these five years reflects the truth of Gandhi's statement -
indeed we were ignored, then laughed at, then fought bitterly by the voting
machine vendors and their supporters in the election establishment. But
finally, truth has prevailed, and what seemed like an impossible dream in
2003 has been made real by our hard work - New York State will be a paper
ballot state.

Just yesterday, it seemed like high powered lobbyists had scuttled our hopes
once again as they maneuvered to keep DREs in the mix even though they were
in clear violation of New York's laws(see my blog entry describing
yesterday's events at http://nyvv.org/blog/2008/01/breakdown-at-board.html).
But this morning, when the Board reconvened, it was immediately obvious from
the commissioners opening statements that those who were pushing for the
DREs had conceded defeat. No small amount of thanks is due to Commissioner
Doug Kellner (D), who firmly held the line yesterday and during a long night
of backroom political maneuvering, vowing he would never approve the DRE
submissions which did not fulfill the requirements of New York State
election law regarding accessible voting machines.

While technically it is possible for a DRE vendor to submit and win approval
for the 2009 lever machine replacement, this is highly unlikely as at least
half of the HAVA funds will be spent on scanner compatible ballot markers.
Since all the approved systems are components of a precinct based scanner
system the least expensive path, and the only sensible one is for the
counties to complete their HAVA implementation with paper ballots and
scanners. We've learned to never be complacent, but this time we have reason
to be confident that the scanner compatible choices of today will inevitably
lead to paper ballots for all New York voters tomorrow.

My deepest thanks to everyone who fought this long, difficult battle. This
is only round 1, and I promise you we will have much, much more to do to
guarantee that our elections belong to the public, and are transparent and
observable. But for today, let's break out the champagne, relax, and
celebrate this great victory. What was once only a slogan representing what
we were fighting for, has now become a reality - Paper Ballots for New York!

Congratulations friends. Together we have changed the course of New York
States election history, and 12 million registered voters in the Empire
State will vote on paper ballots, not DREs.

-Bo Lipari




Sounds like good news for NYS!