http://www

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/OPINION01/601110305

The Poughkeepsie Journal

Election flaws must be fixed

January 11, 2006

The Dutchess County Elections Commission has failed to serve the voters and changes must be made.

Due to a lack of leadership, Dutchess in November snubbed a law to certify results on statewide issues. This is the first time in New York's history voters were so overtly disenfranchised. No other county has ever defied this deadline.

County commissioners Fran Knapp of the Democratic Party and David Gamache of the Republican Party have both cited numerous reasons why the certification couldn't occur. None of those reasons hold up in regard to the statewide measures. The two needed to work together and they didn't. As a result of their inaction, 174,000 Dutchess votes were not included when the state certified two statewide measures and a Supreme Court judge's race. Results from local races were delayed, pending appeals and court rulings, but these should not have affected the certification of the larger races.

Although officials say this time the county's votes in the state races would not have swayed the final outcome, the reality is people must be confident their votes will at least be counted.

This is not the first problem to plague this countywide office. Since the commissioners operate as an independent body, recommended by their respective parties and appointed by the county Legislature, both entities must demand changes of Knapp and Gamache. It is especially critical now since the county is entrusted with increased responsibility because of the Helping America Vote Act.

Yet, after the county executive proposed funding the commissioners only part-time and issued a public statement asserting incompetence and inefficiencies in the office, the Legislature was silent. Without public comment, it simply overrode the county executive's budget veto, fully reinstating the election commissioners' salaries. This action avoids, rather than solves, ongoing problems.

They include:

# The county still does not have a plan in place for handling voting machines. As of Jan. 15, state law mandates the county will assume ownership of the lever-style election machines from towns and villages. The county will also be responsible for whatever new voting machines are ultimately selected to conform with the voting act.

# There is no adopted plan for how the county will take over from towns and villages the huge responsibility and costs of conducting elections. The Legislature rightfully denied a funding request by the election commission, because the vague proposals did not justify the expenses.

# Fighting between the two commissioners has reached epic proportions, with neither willing to work with the other. While most county election offices benefit from a partisan system of checks and balances, in Dutchess it's created a stalemate.

County voters deserve better. The elections department must be totally above reproach and that is not the case. These commissioners are paid $78,105 annually. Each also holds additional outside employment, which is their right. However, it should not interfere with their vital, primary position as election commissioners.

If Knapp and Gamache can't get the elections department in order and create a transition plan for mandatory changes, the party caucuses should find new commissioners who will uphold the important job entrusted to them and the Legislature should quickly appoint them. The integrity of the election process cannot be compromised.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.