With one of the most exciting and historic Presidential Elections on the horizon, voters may be turning out in record numbers. But New York voters who use one of the new accessible voting machines, a ballot marking device (BMD), might have to wait until days later to have their votes counted.
It seems New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) reached an impasse over how to count ballots filled out with a BMD. Initially, the procedures developed by NYSBOE had BMD ballots counted at the polling site directly after the close of polls.
Commissioner Douglas A. Kellner, NYSBOE Co-Chair
recently reported, “Todd Valentine, the Republican co-executive director of the NYS Board of Elections, sent…revisions that he insists must be adopted for the BMD procedures. Most significantly, he is proposing to change Paragraph 4(b) to eliminate counting BMD ballots in the same manner as emergency ballots.” (Emergency paper ballots are used in the event of a lever machine breakdown and are counted directly after the close of polls.)
Instead Mr. Valentine proposes:
The ballot generated by the ballot marking device shall be placed in the ballot box for the voter’s election district. Alternatively, county boards may determine to provide for a single ballot box for all ballots generated by the ballot marking device. Upon the close of the polls, the ballot box shall be delivered to the County Board and the ballots then canvassed in the same manner and together with other paper ballots for the election district in order to maximize the privacy of the voter’s vote.
Why would there be a need for separate boxes? A vote is a vote is a vote, is it not? His claim this particular step will "maximize the privacy of the voter's vote" is absurd given this instruction in the same set of procedures:
In order to ensure the privacy of the ballots cast by voters with disabilities, county boards shall take steps to encourage the use of accessible voting devices, and ensure that any registered voter who wishes to use the device may do so.
It is no secret New York lags behind other states when it comes to full implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and it has taken much gnashing of teeth, rending of cloth and eleventh hour court orders to get us this far. HAVA calls for equal access, full inclusion, privacy and independence for every voter in this country. While there might be some understandable delays in manufacturing or certifying machines, challenges to overcome with implementing a multifaceted statewide database, and many-layered logistics to contend with, it is beyond shameful how the spirit of the law has been, time and again, by-passed and disregarded.
The issue of privacy espoused in HAVA encompasses more than simply the counting of ballots, as Mr. Valentine’s interpretation postulates. It is also the act of voting without anyone else having to read names, move levers, or check boxes. It means every voter, regardless of range of mobility, degree of sight, or breadth of any other human capacity, can exercise a civil right and duty with dignity. It means all voters can expect those officials who administer elections actively support this civil right with integrity and consummate accord.
By this latest recant, the disability community is again made responsible for policing NYSBOE actions, again put in the ridiculous position of fighting for what is just and sensible and sane.
The message that continues to be sent by the NYSBOE is “votes cast by people with disabilities are less important than those votes cast by the non-disabled public”. How much longer must people with disabilities be treated like second class citizens?
Helen Benlisa is the Project HAVA Coordinator at the Catskill Center for Independence (CCFI) in Oneonta, New York serving 52 Upstate New York counties.
For more information on HAVA implementation in New York contact Project HAVA at CCFI 607-432-8000 or 1-888-NYS-HAVA
Visit our website www.ccfi.us for more HAVA-related articles