Election Official's Testimony in New York City Hearing Shocks Assemblymembers

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Testimony in New York City Hearing Shocks Assemblymembers

"Would Refuse to Certify Electronic Vote Count"

Columbia County Election Commissioner Testifies

"The mandated transition to electronic voting and vote-counting will likely prevent me as commissioner from doing my job, which is to certify to the accuracy of election numbers," testified Virginia Martin, Columbia County Democratic Election Commissioner, in a hearing of the State Assembly's Standing Committee on Election Law on October 22 in New York City.

After Martin’s brief statement, dumbfounded assembly members questioned her for half an hour, going so far as to challenge her knowledge of computers and whether her county would support her refusal. She answered calmly, and the audience erupted in applause when she said that counting the votes by hand on election night would be both less expensive and more secure than using an insufficiently-audited computer count.

While Martin praised the State's actions to provide accessibility to voters with disabilities, she said the new computerized voting systems are poorly made and break down often, in contrast to the dependable lever voting systems currently in use.

"If Columbia County starts using software to count votes, I will not certify an election unless an appropriately designed audit of the paper ballots is conducted. So far, the State Board has not mandated an audit that audit experts agree will expose inaccurate counts."

... more at the link

[robinlynne]

1. This is spectacular. Now how many more counties do we have?

[Bill Bored]

2. Lots of counties, but please k&r this thread and also these 2:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[robinlynne]

4. k&r!!!

[Wilms]

8. There's about twenty counties that have signed.

And a few towns, and state organizations.

They're listed here.

http://nylevers.wordpress.com /

Just so you know, while many are concerned with election integrity, a huge reason for the anti-electronic sentiment in NY is $$.

So be it.

[Stevepol]

3. Finally, an honest election commissioner!! Is this a sign of things to come? Probably not.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Big democracy movements always start small. You are part of the vanguard.

Never despair! You are planting seeds that are growing!

[diva77]

6. We should capitalize on this and create an award to give her

Maybe the EDA can start a "Preserving Democracy" award of some sort to give this woman...and then issue press releases and ask for commentary from NASS and other such organizations

just an idea

[clear eye]

7. Kick.

[Bill Bored]

9. Caption this image!