Reply #11: The VRA applies to Kings, New York and Bronx counties in NY.

[Bill Bored]

The lawsuit is filed in the Eastern District of NY, which includes Kings County (Brooklyn).

The SBOE will claim they have obtained preclearance using the state election law and regulations -- which the scanners violate. They will attempt to conceal the latter and claim they got preclearance and that's that. They may also claim that HAVA allows voter education to inform voters of the effect of casting overvotes, which is true and the SBOE is using it.

So, does HAVA violate the VRA? That would be an interesting ruling!:popcorn:

I'm not familiar with Section 2, but I'd think that if the new system was precleared under Section 5, unless someone claims this was inappropriate because the scanners violate the conditions under which the preclearance was issued, the plaintiffs may have a tough time.

The SBOE can do what the plaintiffs want by changing the ballot programming. But they are concerned about longer lines, increased ballot printing costs, etc. And it's embarrassing that they didn't catch the cryptic error message which does violate state law. So much for the toughest certification process in the nation!