Two Election Law Experts Say New York Falls Short in Election Reform Efforts 6/25/2003
From: Christy Hicks of The Century Foundation, 212-452-7723 or hicks@tcf.org NEW YORK, June 25 -- A New York State task force has released a preliminary report regarding how New York will comply with the Help America Vote Act. Unfortunately, according to former New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams and election law expert Arthur Fried, the state has failed to provide the guidelines for improving elections that New Yorkers need and deserve. Abrams and Fried are the authors of "The Help America Vote Act: Impact and Potential for New York," a report recently released by The Century Foundation. "In producing such a nominal plan, the task force has squandered the opportunity to show New York State how to move into the forefront of leadership in registering new voters, training those who administer elections and providing the citizens of New York with the best voting machines," said Robert Abrams. "The state task force has failed to address many of the issues whose resolution could lead to a significant enhancement in elections in New York State, and not just a change in machinery," said Arthur Fried. In contrast to the task force's report, in The Century Foundation report (http://www.reformelections.org/data/news/help_america_vote.php), Robert Abrams and Arthur Fried examine every provision of the federal legislation, analyze its legal implications, and detail what specific action New York's elected leaders and election administrators should take to best comply with the new law. The authors believe there are many deficiencies in the report that must be addressed in the process of public debate that will take place before a final plan is submitted to the federal government. Many of the missing pieces can be found in The Century Foundation's report. Just a few of the gaps are as follows: The Machines -- The plan refers to three DRE (ATM style) systems that have been certified by the State, without describing any of their features. The plan does not make clear whether the State is limited to those three machines or is open to certifying new technology. The plan makes no recommendation with respect to the state's requirement that all of the races be on one page -- the "full face ballot" requirement." This requirement imposes tremendous limitations on the state's voting technology options. There is no provision for public input in choosing among technologies. Poll Workers -- The plan for improving poll worker training is vague. Commendably, a statewide curriculum will be made available, but there are no new requirements or standards for training suggested. -- There is no discussion of the need for language translators at the polls. -- The report is virtually silent on the critical issue of poll worker recruitment. Voter Registration -- The plan states that the Board will seek access to other statewide databases for verifying voter registration identification. Given the new voter ID requirements, this is potentially a very useful tool in preventing inadvertent disenfranchisement through voter error in completing the application. Yet the plan does not discuss what agencies it is referring to (other than DMV and the Social Security databases) or what voter information would be checked on those databases for the purposes of identifying the voter so that he or she is able to vote. -- There is no discussion of what additional forms of ID the State will accept as fulfilling the new ID requirements of HAVA. The Century Foundation report recommends expanding the definition of identification to include documents other than those explicitly enumerated in HAVA. -- The plan does not define what will be included as a "mail-in registration" that is subject to the ID requirement. That is, it does not specify whether their definition will include registration applications delivered by hand to the Board of Elections by voter registration groups. Voter Education -- Plans for voter education are very general and fall short. For example, the Board will make a Voter's Bill of Rights and voter's handbook "available," but not take the step of mailing such crucial materials to all voters. Administrative Complaint Procedure -- There are few details as to how the administrative complaint procedure will work. This includes who exactly will administer it, whether it will be made language accessible, and whether judicial review will be available. Abrams, Fried, and the director of the project, Tova Andrea Wang, are available to comment on the state's plan for instituting voting reforms. For more information, contact Christy Hicks at 212-452-7723 or hicks@tcf.org. ------ 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. |