The Century Foundation Looks at Dramatic Changes Coming to New York's Elections

3/20/2003

From: Christy Hicks of The Century Foundation, 212-452-7723, hicks@tcf.org

NEW YORK, March 20 -- The Century Foundation has engaged two of the state's most respected voices in election law to analyze what the recently passed Help America Vote Act (HAVA) (P.L.107-252) will mean for New York's electoral system and what the city and state's options are for dealing with it. The report, by former New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams, partner at Stroock Stroock & Lavan, and Arthur Fried, former executive director of the Center for Excellence in New York City Governance at New York University, is expected to be released in April.

Due to the unique manner in which New York conducts its elections, the provisions of the new law will have particularly profound ramifications for New York State and City. These ramifications, what the state and city will have to do to comply with HAVA, and how the state and city will meet HAVA's requirements financially and logistically have not been widely discussed or analyzed. Accordingly, few of New York's elected officials, candidates, election lawyers, voting rights advocates, journalists, and voters are fully aware of how dramatically our elections and electoral process must transform beginning in less than a year from now. This report will fill that information gap. In addition, the report is intended to inform the work of the commission recently named by Governor Pataki to create a plan for spending federal money allocated to help states comply with the new law. That commission will release its report later this spring.

Among the issues the report will explore are: -- What New York can do to comply with the law's voting machine requirements -- How New York can manage the new voter identification requirements and comply with the law's antifraud provisions -- How federal funds can best be utilized for poll worker recruitment and training and voter education

The Century Foundation has a national and local reputation in the area of election reform due to our recent work and notable successes in this area, particularly The National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford, and our reports on the 2001 elections.

Contact Christy Hicks at 212-452-7723 or hicks@tcf.org for more information about the report or to arrange an interview with Robert Abrams, Arthur Fried, or Tova Wang, the election reform project director for The Century Foundation.

------ The Century Foundation is a research foundation that undertakes timely, critical, and analytical studies of major economic, political, and social institutions and issues. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, TCF was founded in 1919 and endowed by Edward A. Filene.