“Either you believe in democracy or you
don’t.”
--Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 11/10/04
Statement of Teresa Hommel
10 St. Marks Place, New York NY 10003
www.wheresthepaper.org
before the Mayor's
Task Force on Election Modernization
May
4, 2005
Thank you
for the opportunity to speak here today.
My name is
Teresa Hommel. I am Chairwoman of the Task Force on Election Integrity of
Community Church of New York, and creator of the web site WheresThePaper.org.
I will discuss part of a speech Mayor Bloomberg made on election reform last November 10th. A hand-notated copy of the speech is in your packets.[1]
I believe it is important for you, as members of the Mayor’s Task Force, to know that many New Yorkers disagree with the Mayor’s desire to switch to electronic voting.
Because of time limitations, I will comment on only four points.
1. The Mayor said that in November, 2004, long lines at the polls, and some lever machines that broke down, were evidence that we need electronic voting -- in order to make voting easier, quicker, and more secure.
In fact, the Mayor
revealed that he was uninformed.
In fact, older voting
technologies are easier, quicker, and more secure. I am referring specifically
to both
-- lever machines,
-- paper ballots with
precinct-based optical scanners
The Mayor should have gone to some locations around our country where electronic voting was used, and then he would have seen problems. Your packets contain a 97-page list of documented failures of electronic voting systems.[2] It’s fascinating, and I hope you will read it.
2. The Mayor said that our lever voting machines are more than 40-years old, and “belong in the New York Historical Society.”
In fact, our lever
machines were built to last at least 150 years with normal, routine
maintenance.
At the age of 40, these
machines are in still in their youth.
If they are breaking
down, I’d like to ask why they haven’t been maintained? Someone has made a
political decision here.
For example, if they weren’t broken, some officials would have to scramble for new arguments for replacing them. It’s not very persuasive to say “oh, they’re so old” if they are in the nearly-new condition they could be.
3. The Mayor implied that only people who are “afraid of technology” oppose electronic voting.
In fact, opposition
originated, and has been most consistent and fervent, from computer scientists
and computer professionals. I am one of them. We have tried to warn our country
that electronic voting undermines the legitimacy of elections and our
government. This is because electronic voting
--conceals
vote-recording and vote-counting, and thereby invites suspicion of fraud
--facilitates
undetectable tampering with votes and tallies, and thereby invites actual fraud
Moreover, electronic voting
has been sold with the false promise that if an election professional can click
a mouse and read their email, then they are competent to run a secure computer
system. And if you believe that, and you can count to 10, you could be a rocket
scientist for NASA.
Electronic voting fits under the heading “MISUSE
of technology.” A
full briefing on electronic voting takes longer than three minutes. I am offering to make myself available, at
your convenience, to provide whatever information you need to enable you to
suitably advise the Mayor to stop beating the drum for electronic voting.
4. The Mayor said that federal money from the Help America
Vote Act (“HAVA”) will pay for us to switch to electronic voting.
In fact, the federal
money will fall far short. It won’t cover the purchase, nor the increased
continuing costs. When the warrantees on the electronic equipment run out in 5
years, and the equipment has to be replaced, we'll be on our own.
New Yorkers for Verified Voting did a per-county analysis of acquisition costs.[3] The statewide totals are:
Electronic voting $230,473,000
Optical Scan $114,423,640
SAVINGS from Optical Scan $116,049,360
Assembly bill A6503, the “Scan and Be Sure” bill, would implement this solution.
And before you dredge up the old stories about fraud with paper ballots, I would like to suggest a twentyfirst century solution, camcorders to watch the ballot boxes and all procedures with the paper ballots once cast.
I do agree with Mayor Bloomberg on one thing. He said,
“either you believe in democracy or you don’t.”
In September, 2004, a Findlaw study showed that 42% of Americans distrusted
electronic voting.
Many voters believe that computer fraud occurred in the November, 2004, election.
But the technology itself
prevents allegations of computer election fraud from being either proved or
disproved. That is a terrible indictment of both our November election and our
misuse of computer technology.
Either you believe in
democracy or you don’t. And if you do, please do not turn over our democracy to
electronic voting.
Thank you.
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1. Mayor Bloomberg's Speech on Election Reform, 11/10/04:
http://www.nycivic.org/MediaArchive/BloombergSpeech041110.html
Comment:
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/BloombergComment.htm
2. Evote System Failures by Vendor:
http://www.votersunite.org/info/messupsbyvendor.asp
Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/EvotingFAQ.htm
3. Acquisition Costs, DRE vs. Optical Scan:
http://nyvv.org/doc/AcquisitionCostDREvOptScanNYS.pdf
Paper Ballot Costs and Printing
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/PaperBallotPrintingCosts05_01.pdf
Preliminary Optical Scan Survey Results
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/PrelimOpScanSurveyResults05_01.pdf
Comments on the NYC EVS Voting Machine Report
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/CommentsOnNYCdraftReport.pdf
( A link to the NYC EVS Voting Machince Report is on this web page
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/BoLipari03_20Report_AnnualCosts.htm )