September 12, 2007

Co-Executive Directors Peter Kosinski and Stanley Zalen
Commissioners and Co-Chairs Neil Kelleher and Douglas Kellner
Commissioners Evelyn Aquila and Helena Moses Donohue
New York State Board of Elections
40 Steuben Street
Albany, New York 12207

Dear Members of the New York State Board of Elections:

Please waive the certification testing fee for 100% open-source, free software that run on COTS hardware.

Waiving this fee for voting systems for such software would be in our state interest and would serve the public.

The State Board’s budget has sufficient funds for this purpose.

Other states have experienced many election irregularities due to the use of electronic voting systems. Due to their secret software, no one has been able to investigate fully to determine the cause of these irregularities and prevent their repeated occurrence.

For this reason the public distrusts systems with secret software. Our state needs alternatives! Fee waiver would encourage development and allow certification of 100% open source systems. This would provide a foundation for public trust, and enable you to comply with your mission of preservation of citizen confidence in the democratic process and enhancement in voter participation in elections.

Sincerely yours,