
Submission + - NY rejects e-voting, DOJ trying to force it anyway
CompaniaHill writes: Hastily passed in the wake of the 2000 election mess, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) supposedly offered funding to help states "update" their voting systems, while in reality using short deadlines to push the sale of untested and uncertified new e-voting systems. Many states continue to demonstrate that the new e-voting machines are not reliable. The New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) took the time to pass their own voting legislation with additional testing and certification standards including a voter verified paper trail, then more time to craft agency rules and procedures, all of which far exceed the HAVA standards. Of course they missed the HAVA deadlines. In March 2006, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued New York to comply with HAVA. Now, the DOJ is serving a motion to try to take away New York's right to select and acquire their own voting machine systems — in effect, to force e-voting machines on New York anyway. Too soon to say how the NYSBOE will respond yet. Hard to find good links on this developing story, but there are bits more on the DOJ motion here here and here, civil group responses here here and here.