[BwayDems] Action Alert: keep flawed voting machines OUT of NYS!

[Pat Almonrode]

>From Susan Crawford, member of the Steering Committee:

Dear Broadway Democrats,

Albany is considering legislation to ban so-called "hybrid" voting
machines. As explained here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rd00PeXYgqMHGW0UcfnUtl839QQZm-eQbyRm20pMMt0/edit>,
hybrid (or “all-in-one”) voting machines combine a printer (to mark the
votes onto the paper), and a scanner (to count the votes). In normal
operation, they work in that order. But if hacked, the software could run
the paper ballot under the print-head to add more votes.

The bills under consideration would ban these sorts of direct-recording
electronic voting <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRE_voting_machine> machines
and require ballots to be stored randomly in voting machines to protect
voter anonymity. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and Senator Zellnor Myrie put in
amendments to the bills last week and we heard the Senate bill is likely to
pass on Monday. But getting it through the Assembly is a bigger lift.
Here's what you can do.

Please call the Speaker of the Assembly, Carl Heastie at 518-455-4800. Here
is a suggested script:

My name is ______, and my zip code is _______. It is urgent for the Speaker
to make it a priority to pass A1115A by the end of session on June 10. At
the national level, Democrats are focused on HR1/S1. A1115A is a mini HR1
for NY State. If it fails, NYC could be buying bad voting machines as soon
as the session ends. The NYC Board of Elections has said that it will buy
the ExpressVote XL, if it is certified by the State Board, which may happen
any day. The XL is a touchscreen, hybrid machine running on obsolete
software -- Windows 7 -- and the machine counts votes with bar codes that
are unreadable by human beings. Experts say the machine has a serious
security flaw. If the bill passes, NY State will be using 21st century
technology to run its elections and will be a model for the nation. Please
make that happen by passing A1115A by June 10.

Then call Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader, at (518)
455-2585. Here is a suggested script :

My name is ______, and my zip code is _______. It is urgent for the
Majority Leader to make it a priority to pass S309A/A1115A by the end of
session on June 10. At the national level, Democrats are focused on HR1/S1.
These bills are a mini HR1 for NY State. Please have the Majority Leader
reach out to Speaker Carl Heastie and make sure he knows that A1115A must
pass this session. If the bills fail, NY will be voting on bad voting
machines for a decade. If they pass, NY will be using 21st century
technology to run its elections and will be a model for the nation.

You can also sign onto a supportive letter here
<https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urgent-new-york-votes-under-attack-right-now/>
.

Finally, please forward this email to three friends and have them call too.

Thanks,
Susan Crawford
Member, Steering Committee
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