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| Another surprise intervention motion has been filed with Judge Sharpe. It may well represent members of the HAVA Coalition, and indicates other motions from NYPIRG and Asaian-AMerican legal defense fund will follow suit. The judge will address these on May 16th. Motion here |
With "great reluctance, ” the U.S. Department of Justice told a judge it does not oppose New York’s HAVA compliance plan filed earlier this month, given the potential for "electoral disarray" in the state's primary this fall. DOJ also asked the judge to require the state to file more information about accessible voting system deployment by June 15, 2006 and both long-term voting system and statewide registration database planning by July 15, 2006.
Details here
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| Lawsuit Update, April 21: A submittal by the Department of Justice in response to New York State's
proposed plan for HAVA compliance was due to be submitted on April 20.
Instead, the DOJ submitted a request for an extension until Friday, April 28
to submit their response. The Court is expected to grant this extension.
On April 10, the New York State Board of Elections submitted a proposed plan
to the Court which would keep NY's lever machines in use for the 2006
elections, and require a ballot marking or vote by phone accessible voting
system to be placed in one or more locations in each county. The Court
called for the DOJ to respond to the State's plan by April 20, 2006.
The NYS Board also submitted to the Court the results of the county
responses to their plans for implementing the proposed state plan. Most
counties indicate that they will purchase only a single accessible device
per county, the minimum required by the State's plan. Even New York City
proposes to have only 20 to 30 accessible voting devices in separate
locations throughout the city, rather than one device per polling place as
called for by HAVA. If the counties plans are accepted by the DOJ as is,
there would be less than 500 accessible ballot marking or vote-by-phone
systems in the entire State of New York in the 2006 election.
It is unclear whether the DOJ will accept the state proposal, or be content
with the counties plan to place only a single accessible device at a central
location in each county. -Bo Lipari
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 New York files voting plan with court
State officials filed a plan Monday with a federal judge outlining how New York would comply with requirements that disabled voters can independently participate in this fall's elections.
State submission to the Court describes the anticipated "Plan B" solution. NYVV analysis of the court filing...
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 Mad rush for new voting machines is mad indeed
Newsday: This Thursday, the court will hear arguments on a motion by [the Department of] Justice seeking a preliminary injunction to obtain the ultimate relief in the case. This is an outrageous attempt to force the court to decide the case before it has all the facts and before the public can be heard.
Eavesdrop on the State Board Meeting
audio 1 here
Albany: March 21, 2006 - A Board lawyer (Valentine) suggests the news on the lawsuit should be discussed in Executive session. Commissioner Doug Kellner wants public disclosure. Another lawyer (Feldman) counsels against a public discussion invoking "legal strategy" needs. Commissioner Aquila concurs with Mr. Feldman and Commissioner Kellner capitulates. So I guess we all will find out in "48 hours" what is up.
audio 2 here
same meeting- Commissioner Kellner wants to discuss Plan B publicly, and asks Anna Svizzero (operations cheif) for news on it. She relays that County ECs are concerned about costs and training of a new system for this year. Co-Executive Directior Kosinski weighs in on balancing the limits of what counties can accomplish with DOJ pressure. Next (Mon. Apr. 3) BOE meeting
We should see the introduction of a new (3rd) set of voting machine regulations which will be voted on with very little public comment. Commissioner Aquila'sword on the content of the new regs. - "You are going to love them. They will be the best in the nation."
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 Judge gives state until April 10 to explain its new system to comply with HAVA
Deadline set on new voting plan
U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe set the deadline in granting the Department of Justice's injunction against the state. Sharpe also rejected attempts by several third parties to intervene in theDept. of Justice suit against New York. Lee Daghlian, a spokesman for the elections board, said the state will submit an interim "Plan B" plan within the next 17 days with several temporary fixes. The plan calls for certifying ballot marking devices or vote-by-phone systems for the disabled that would be purchased by counties instead of new voting machines. Meanwhile, the state will set up an interim voter databank. It would use the old lever machines this fall.
Daghlian said the counties could come up with some other ideas or petition the court. "The feds are suing us, not the county boards," Bo Lipari, leader of a citizens group pushing for paper ballots and optical scanning machines, said Sharpe's order is reasonable and the delays may benefit New York, allowing other states that met the HAVA deadline to deal with any bugs.
was not so charitable about the situation writing,"Today a federal court told New York state to present a HAVA plan by April 10. The court also found that intervention of LWV, NYVV and others would not be allowed. Essentially the court found in favor of chaos. "
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 NYC Bar Association To DOJ: Back Off
March 20, 2006 at 11:45 am by Elizabeth Benjamin
The New York City Bar Association just released a statement regarding the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state for failure to comply with HAVA. An excerpt:
“Despite the technical merit of its lawsuit, DOJ is at risk of losing sight of the important principles advanced by HAVA, especially in its demand that the Court order New York to comply by an absurdly short deadline. The Legislature finally has taken the necessary action and the State Board of Elections is in the midst of developing the standards and procedures needed to implement HAVA effectively. Concededly, compliance cannot be complete by the 2006 elections, but Federal insistence on more being accomplished than is reasonable or possible would be a Pyrrhic victory.”
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 3/13/06
Bo Lipari on the DOJ Lawsuit
NYVV maintains that the delay in implementing HAVA is due at least in part to the federal government, which also failed to meet HAVA deadlines. ... It is ironic that the DOJ is pushing New York State to comply with a law that the Federal government itself has not complied with.
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3/6/06
10 days - or else! Faster work sought on voting reform
Late Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice asked U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe to issue a preliminary injunction and order the state Board of Elections to file its compliance plan within 10 days of the order. As New York state voters, "our interests aren't being represented" by either the Justice Department or the state, said Bo Lipari, director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, a group that fears the state isn't doing enough to ensure that new machines will be reliable.
This preliminary injunction will supersede the earlier suit, which has it's place in the queue, and is scheduled to be heard later. The United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) is asking a judge to rule now. This also supersedes NYVV's Motion to Intervene.
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 New York Times Editorial 3/3/06
There have been alarming rumors about a possible agreement that would skimp on testing the new equipment, or even adopt machines that don't have the safety net of a paper trail. These are fundamental protections of the voters' right to make sure that their ballots are counted accurately. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's lawyers must make certain that Washington does not push through insecure machines and faulty testing procedures by this backdoor route. more reporting from the Times
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 Bloomberg Officials Object to Stopgap Voting System: 3/2/06 One system under consideration would allow disabled voters to vote by phone, state officials said, and another would allow them to print out and mark up ballots.
But the Bloomberg administration objects. Michael A. Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel, warned in a letter to the state and federal governments on Thursday that putting the stopgap plan in place by the September primary election "is completely infeasible and impractical, would provide false assurance to the voters that the problem has been solved, and would lead to chaos at the polls and possible disenfranchisement of the voters."
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  SUED!
New York State was sued March 1, 2006 by the federal Justice Department, making it the first state to be sued for failing to meet HAVA. "The lawsuit isn't going to change anything," said Douglas Kellner, a co-chairman of the Board of Elections. Getting new machines "can't be done" in time, he said. The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and Common Cause/New York today urged the state to ask the federal government for a waiver. "It's absurd to rush such a process," said Neil Rosenstein of NYPIRG. "This action (lawsuit) may do more harm than good." Attorney Gerneal Spitzer's (left) office will defend the State.
Democratic Lawyers' Council issued a statement: "Litigation is not the proper means to chose voting machines."
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| Stopgap Accord Sought on Voting System 2/28/06 |
The negotiations have been secretive and, it appears, tense. "The Department of Justice has been telling us every day for the last three weeks that they're going to sue us tomorrow if we don't agree to the last version of the consent order," said Douglas A. Kellner, a co-chairman of the Board of Elections. |
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State meeting NEWS : 2/27/06
The Monday, Feb 27., meeting in Albany was unexpectedly brought to a halt when the Commissioners announced they would go into executive session. A reporter insisted that the Board did not have grounds to work behind closed doors. The Board desired to comply with the Department of Justice (DoJ) requests to privately discuss the threatened suit by the DoJ against New York State. Ultimately, Board lawyers decided the Commissioners did have legal grounds to meet in executive session. Attend the next State Board meeting on Tuesday, March 7 12:00 P.M. State Board Offices, 40 Steuben Street, Albany, NY to watch the Commissions "mark up" the regulations. Will the regulations reach a vote?
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 New York's Senators ask for Time 1/25/06
In a letter before the Suit was Filed
"Therefore we urge you to grant the State of New York and it's Board of Elections a waiver in complying with the [deadline]".
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 Good News: The State and the Department of Justice are discussing a new option that would allow New York to keep the lever machines in place for this year’s election. This potential solution, referred to as "Plan B", is very promising and has many benefits for New York. News Details |
a regional chapter of New Yorkers for Verified Voting 
Voters & Civic Groups Intervene in DOJ Lawsuit
