NYC BOE Can Not Count

From the New York Daily News.

More than 48 hours have elapsed since Rep. Charles Rangel was declared the winner in a primary election that was closely watched across America.

Yet to the disgrace of the City Board of Elections, there is no way to guess at his margin of victory, or even be certain Rangel will be declared the winner after all.

Although turnout was light, the New York City Board of Elelctions botched tallying unofficial results after polls closed. The debacle was predictable, given that it adds up who got what by hand in the most convoluted error-prone process imaginable.

We’ve run through this often, to no avail. Here we go again:

Poll workers have electronic vote-scanning machines print long paper tapes, cut the tapes into sections by election district, add the numbers and enter them on sheets of paper. Police bring the sheets to their stations, where the tallies are entered by hand into a computer for sending to The Associated Press. Elapsed time: many long hours. Error rate: plenty.

On Tuesday night, the board had Rangel ahead of State Sen. Adriano Espaillat by 2,331 votes. The AP reported the result while noticing that 79 election districts showed up with zero votes. On Wednesday, the AP election unit tracked down the tally sheets for 46 of the districts where there were purportedly no votes. Discovery: Voters had cast ballots, but poll workers had failed to add them. When The AP factored in the new vote counts, Rangel’s margin shrank to 1,075. As of Thursday evening, sheets for 33 zero-vote districts had not been found. How many votes did they show and for whom? Who knows?

None of the mistakes would have happened if the board had taken advantage of the electronic memory drives that come with the scanners. The process: remove drive, insert in computer, compute. Elapsed time: instant. Error rate: zero.

The Assembly last week passed legislation that would have ordered the board to switch to such a system. It died in the Senate, leaving New Yorkers to face more such fiascoes in September primaries and the November presidential election.

As for the Rangel-Espaillat contest, the board may get an accurate count Friday, when it checks the memory drives that should have been used Tuesday night. But that would have made sense.
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Sen. Adriano Espaillat's supporters in his primary race against incumbent Rep. Charles Rangel are calling for a federal monitor to oversee the counting of 2,400 affidavits and votes in 32 precincts that as of Thursday had yet to be recorded in New York's 13th Congressional District primary. Mr. Espaillat's lawyers were at the Manhattan Board of Elections waiting for affidavit ballots to be re-canvassed.

A problem with the memory drive solution is the current vote monitor laws. As a poll monitor for the Independence Party, all party monitors use the tapes at the polling sites to verify the vote before they go to the police stations.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice Files Lawsuit Against GA

The Justice Department announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia and its chief election official seeking relief to help ensure that military service members, their family members and U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to participate fully in Georgia’s Aug. 21, 2012, federal primary runoff election and all future federal runoff elections.

The lawsuit, brought under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), was filed in federal district court in Atlanta. The lawsuit alleges that Georgia’s procedures are inadequate to ensure that its eligible military and overseas voters can participate fully in the state’s Aug. 21, 2012, federal primary runoff election, should one be necessary. The lawsuit seeks an order requiring Georgia to take all steps necessary to ensure that all affected UOCAVA voters are afforded a full opportunity to participate in the upcoming federal primary runoff election and all future federal elections.

“Our uniformed service members and overseas citizens deserve a full opportunity to participate in all elections of our nation’s leaders including runoff elections for federal office in states where they are held” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This suit seeks relief to ensure that Georgia’s military and overseas voters, many of whom are members of our armed forces and their families serving our country around the world, will be provided the opportunity guaranteed by UOCAVA to receive, mark and return their ballots in the upcoming primary runoff election, as well as all future federal runoff elections.”









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Supreme Court Affirms How Prisoners Are Counted in a Census

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the decision of a 3-judge court in Maryland, in Fletcher v Lamone, 11-1178. Maryland and a handful of other states now draw congressional and legislative districts under the assumption that prisoners should be tallied (for redistricting purposes) in the community in which they lived before they were imprisoned, instead of in the town where the prison is located.

The 3-judge court had upheld Maryland’s system. Today’s summary affirming means that other states are now free to follow the same policy, without fear that that method of counting prisoners is unconstitutional.

New York tried to pass this in 2012 but could not get it passed in both houses of the state legislature.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Supreme Court Rejects Corp Campaign Spending Limits

The Supreme Court on Monday reaffirmed its 2-year-old decision allowing corporations to spend freely to influence elections. The justices struck down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending.

By a 5-4 vote, the court's conservative justices said the decision in the Citizens United case in 2010 applies to state campaign finance laws and guarantees corporate and labor union interests and the right to spend freely to advocate for or against candidates for state and local offices.

Montana aggressively defended its 1912 law against a challenge from corporations seeking to be free of spending limits, and the state Supreme Court sided with the state. The state court said a history of corruption showed the need for the limits.

22 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Sen. John McCain and other congressional champions of stricter regulations on campaign money, joined with Montana.

Montana urged the high court to reject the appeal, or hold arguments and not issue what the court calls a summary reversal. The prevailing side in the lower court almost always strives to avoid high court review. But Montana and its supporters hoped a thorough debate over the Citizens United decision would lead to its reconsideration or at least limits on its reach.

The case is American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, 11-1179.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice to Monitor NY Congressional Primaries

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor primary elections on June 26, 2012, in Orange County and Queens, N.Y., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group.

In addition, Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Queens. A Civil Rights Division attorney will coordinate federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Protect Our Democracy

Protect our Democracy is working to pass comprehensive campaign finance reform in New York State that includes lower contribution limits, small-dollar matching funds, and greater transparency and enforcement.

Mission
Our democracy is under attack by an unprecedented wave of special interest money, and New York State has one of the worst campaign finance systems in the country, with absurdly high contribution limits, limited enforcement, and gaping loopholes. Individuals can contribute more than $60,000 to candidates in a statewide election and unlimited contributions are allowed to political party’s “housekeeping” accounts by individuals and corporations. It’s a system that is built for the big donor, not the average voter.

Protect Our Democracy is working to reform New York's campaign finance system—to reduce the influence of money and special interests in state elections, engage more citizens in the political process, and create a model for national reform. Protect Our Democracy is leading an advocacy campaign, accompanied by targeted electoral efforts through Protect Our Democracy PAC, to build a majority for reform in the New York State Legislature.

One need not look far for a blueprint for reform. New York City’s campaign finance system, which includes public matching funds, is a strong model for statewide and national reform. In New York City, small donor contributions up to $175 are matched 6:1. Contribution limits are reasonable, and enforcement is consistent. Since this system was enacted more than twenty years ago, more New York City residents have taken part in the political process by voting and contributing to candidates, and special interest influence has decreased.

Protect our Democracy is working to pass comprehensive campaign finance reform in New York state that includes low-dollar matching funds, lower contribution limits, and greater transparency and enforcement. We stand with the 74% of New Yew York State voters who support campaign finance reform that includes lower contribution limits and a system of public campaign funding. (Source: January 2012 Siena Poll.)

Passing a campaign finance reform bill—including public matching funds—will require a targeted electoral and advocacy strategy to build a majority for reform in the New York State Legislature and grow outside momentum and pressure. We will work with the Cuomo administration, lawmakers, coalition partners, and New York voters to pass robust campaign finance reform in New York during the 2012-2013 legislative session.

Use the above link for more information about this project.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Libertarian/Anti-Prohibition Election Lawsuit

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

In 2010, both the Libertarian Party, and the Anti-Prohibition Party, qualified for the general election ballot in New York. New York generally permits candidates to be the nominee of multiple political parties, called Fusion Voting.

However, New York will not print the name of a candidate nominated for the same office by two different unqualified parties on the ballot twice. By contrast, if two or even three qualified parties nominate the same candidate for the same office, that candidate is listed on the ballot multiple times.

In 2010, both the Libertarian Party and the Anti-Prohibition Party nominated Randy Credico for U.S. Senate. When the State Board of Elections told him that he could not be listed on the ballot twice, he sued.

Almost two years later, the case has an oral argument date. It will be argued in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on September 19, 2012. The case is Credico v New York State Board of Elections, 1:10cv-4555.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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No Taxpayer Cash for Conventions

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

A bipartisan push to eliminate millions of federal dollars earmarked to each party’s conventions was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate on Thursday, handing a win to critics who say taxpayer money shouldn’t be spent on orchestrated presidential nominating coronations at a time of severe budget constraints.

The bill, proposed by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), would prevent future conventions from receiving federal dollars through the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, a program that is bankrolled by about 33 million taxpayers who each year voluntarily check a box on their tax forms directing $3 to the fund.

It will be interesting to see if the U.S. House concurs.

The program for public money for national presidential nominating conventions has been in place starting in 1976. The only political party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties that ever received federal funding for its presidential convention was the Reform Party, in 2000.

Use the above link to read the article by MANU RAJU of POLITICOL.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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OUR TIME

A Generation is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

Creating one million new jobs by expanding National Service.

Our country needs nurses, teachers, disaster relief, park restoration, infrastructure repair, and more. Yet 1 in 2 young Americans are currently jobless or underemployed.

A generation is a terrible thing to waste. Pledge to create one million new public service positions by expanding programs such as AmeriCorps, CitiYear, Habitat for Humanity, Teach for America, and others so we can rebuild our country now.

Use the above link to sign the petition.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC Extra Primary Could Cost $23 Million

I have been blogging about this all year.

A new report from the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) tallies the costs of the unprecedented number of citywide elections this year (four) and finds that the extra primary in September will cost New York City taxpayers $23 million.

The report estimates the total cost of citywide elections this year at upwards of $80 million.

The four citywide elections this year were April’s Republican Primary, Congressional Primaries on June 26th, the September 13 State Legislative Primaries, and the November General Elections.

IBO blames Albany:

“Albany officials could have shifted state legislative primaries to June 26 as well, but chose not to. With New York’s legislative session scheduled to run until June 21, the State Senate balked at the idea of holding an election just five days later that would leave them little time to get home and campaign. So counties across the state pony up more money to cover the cost of an additional day for voters to go to the polls. For the city this meant adding $23 million to the Board of Election’s budget. The funds cover expenditures such as printing ballots, transporting voting machines to the city’s more than 1,300 polling sites, and paying about 30,000 poll workers.”

IBO notes the Republican primaries had such low turnout that the city paid an average $522 for every vote cast.

When will New York City voters demand the structural political reforms New York City independents have been asking for since 1994?









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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