(NY) 5/09 - SUFFOLK: OBSERVERS BOOTED...

Author Message   Bev Harris Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 10570 Registered: 12-2004 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 2 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 9:57 am:        I said my piece. The reporter got it right. Mainstream press is picking up on accurate framing of the issues. (Just read this short but dead-on article) - The Suffolk Times - May 21, 2009: Counting votes behind closed doors is wrong A strange thing happened Tuesday night in Oysterponds. District officials decided to count the votes cast in Tuesday's election in secret. It's odd because we can't remember this ever happening before. In Oysterponds and in every other school district whose elections we've covered when the polls closed, the press and members of the public were allowed to remain in the room while the votes were counted -- until this year. Even Oysterponds school board president Ted Webb was ushered out of the room on election night. He said the district clerk thought there was too much noise in the room to conduct the vote count. But district officials didn't ask those present to quiet down. "That's what I would have done," Mr. Webb said. "What happened to transparency? It should be a public act. Election officials will always tell you there are safeguards. But try telling that to the people in Florida in 2000." He's right. The count should be a public act. But oddly, that's not what New York state law says. According to John Conklin, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections, it's perfectly legal to exclude the public and the press from the room when votes are being tallied. But Bev Harris, founder and director of the Seattle-based nonprofit BlackBoxVoting.org, said a public counting process is fundamental to our system of government, based on the Declaration of Independence. "You can't have liberty without self-government. You can't have self-government if you count votes in secret. Liberty and self-government are considered by the Declaration to be inalienable rights, endowed by our creator. You can't pass a law that takes away these freedoms," she said. "Having government insiders count votes in secret effectively transfers power from the people to the government." Communist dictator Josef Stalin put it another way. "I consider it completely unimportant who ... will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this -- who will count the votes, and how." Transparency is everything. http://www2.timesreview.com/ST/stories/T052109_edit This article is also archived in the New York - Suffolk County section of this Web site.   Tom Courbat Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Leftisbest Post Number: 101 Registered: 6-2006 Best of Black Box? N/A Votes: 0 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 10:54 am:        That law needs to be changed, and RIGHT NOW. This is an incredible trampling on Democracy. And to learn that it is in New York, the last bastion of lever machines and the resistance to E-voting, makes the need to change even more urgent. What a power-hungry, control-freak the district clerk is. He/She needs to be replaced as fast as possible. Does BBV have resources to take on this violation of lady liberty?   From the Mailbag Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Mailbag Post Number: 280 Registered: 10-2005 Best of Black Box? N/A Votes: 0 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 11:18 am:        Received the following by e-mail in response to Tom's comment: Many jurisdictions permit the clerk to exclude general public and press. Most do make provision for political party poll watchers for partisan elections. Many school elections are non-partisan, and I don't know what the rules would be for that. -- S.G.   Bev Harris Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 10571 Registered: 12-2004 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 2 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 11:35 am:        Let me clarify: The quote says "you can't pass a law that takes away these freedoms" -- obviously, you CAN pass a law, but the law is invalid. We had laws allowing slavery, but these were ultimately deemed invalid and, even while they were in place, many citizens realized that these laws violated the principles upon which this country was founded and, in actions like the Underground Railroad, acted outside those laws. We need to recognize that laws which prohibit the public from observing the vote count are in fact improper and invalid, because they transfer the power from the public to government insiders. This goes for the party-centric models as well, where political party observers are allowed but not the public. Now, as for nonpartisan elections, we already know that some locations in party-centric observation states have taken the position that no observation by anyone will be permitted in the nonpartisan elections. Pima County Arizona took this position just a few weeks ago, blocking both the public and party observers from observing the count and the poll closing (tallying and reconciliation activities). Yes, Tom, it is incredibly undemocratic, and regardless of whether it's (arguably) legal, we need to call it what it is, out loud, and advocate for roll-back of undemocratic vote-counting laws and practices. I am very pleased to see mainstream reporters getting involved in making the public aware of this. With thousands of jurisdictions, Black Box Voting does not take on these battles mano a mano, but we do provide input and mentoring to local citizens who take the important step of getting involved to create change. After all -- that's what the democratic process is; people acting locally on their sense of right and wrong, without becoming dependent on national groups to do it for them. We are actively working on getting the mainstream press to cover election reform through the lens of inalienable rights and open government.   Tom Courbat Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Leftisbest Post Number: 102 Registered: 6-2006 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 2 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 1:10 pm:        What would be involved in getting a listing of all the political subdivisions's policies and practices on allowing observers, and the degree to which they allow (what can be observed, what cannot?)observation. It sounds like it would be a HUGE project, and as Bev mentions, local folks would need to "get involved" and that is really the biggest barrier - lack of interest, time, etc.   Marian Beddill Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Uu7thprinciple Post Number: 199 Registered: 8-2005 Best of Black Box? N/A Votes: 0 (A keeper?) Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 2:41 pm:        Tom (and all); "What would be involved....?" and "...the biggest barrier ..."; you ask. I'd say - networking would be involved --- and "...that is really the biggest..." OPPORTUNITY! What else would be a simpler task for one concerned citizen in each County (or other jurisdiction which is the local managers of elections)? Call, or better, visit the Elections Office, and get the info. One question - and one (maybe multi-part) answer. Then send the report up a chain - State by State (or fill-in the blanks on somebody's webform.) And someone compiles and posts the responses. MB Marian http://NoLeakyBuckets.org   Tom Courbat Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Leftisbest Post Number: 103 Registered: 6-2006 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 3 (A keeper?) Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 4:48 am:        This would involve coordination most likely by an existing EI organization or one very ambitious EI person with some knowledge of what to be asking for. Every jurisdiction SHOULD have a written policy on rights and limitations on observers. That doesn't mean they do, nor does it mean they abide by it. It also may be very very restrictive. In many (most?) cases, the state involved should have some guidelines or regulations setting minimum standards for observation. In those jurisdictions with e-voting, there should be "Use Procedures" manuals that speak to the issue. Copies should be available via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, or whatever it is called in each state. In CA, it is called a California Public Records Act (CPRA)request. And remember, there are a multitude of activities to be observed. These include anything and everything from delivery of ballots from the printer, logic and accuracy (L&A) testing, election-eve set up of precincts, observation of delivery of DREs to precincts and secure (sic) storage of same, opening of the polls, observation during Election Day at the polls, early voting locations, closing of the polls including completion of all appropriate forms (Ballot Statements, Certificate of Completions, posting of results outside of precinct), transporting of Election materials to a collection center, observation of all procedures at the collection center including capture of types of forms used, possible following of vehicle from precinct to collection center and truck from collection center to main office. Then at the main office, processing of the incoming ballots and results cards, other election materials, exception processing for items with broken or missing seals, etc., running of ballots through scanners and results cartridges through card readers, dual monitors on the scanners, card readers and the central tabulator and video taping of what is on the screens at all times. There is also processing of incoming voe-by-mail (absentee) ballots over a 15 or 20 day period or longer, processing of provisional ballots, 1% manual tallies, expanded audits/tallies, 100% tallies, staffing of hot-lines on Election Day and then of course, the FOIA requests for any documents that might reflect problems with chain of custody, proper completion of documents, etc. Hmm, seems there is a lot to do when one monitors an election. Does it really seem reasonable that we can gather reasonable information about policies on observation when there are so many activities to observe, and I can guarantee any given Election Official will rule one way one day and another way another day on a multitude of questions. Of course, there is also the issue of when you can video tape and when you can take photos or audio recordings. Ah, one day, there will be training on all this, and it will be generic, b/c every jurisdiction will be very different.

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