Judge Seizes NY Congressional Redistricting

A three-judge panel named U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann as Special Master over New York's Congressional redistricting process during a hearing today, when attorneys representing Democrats who dominate the Assembly and Republicans who hold a bare 2 seat majority in the Senate acknowledged they had no agreement through a joint task force called LATFOR that is tasked with drawing the Congressional lines.

Mann ordered they develop their own proposals by this Wednesday. She will then hear objections on those proposals by Friday and said another hearing would be scheduled sometime early next week.

She has control over Congressional lines but the State's Assembly and Senate lines still have to be drawn and accepted. The Democrats would like her to also take over this process.

As of now, New York is still in a three primary year that will cost around $50 million each. April 24 is the Presidential Primary, June 26 the Congressional Primary with petitioning beginning March 20, and September 11 is the State Primary. The General Election is November 6.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NYC BOE Ignores Bronx Missed Votes

Thanks to The Daily News for this post.

A Board of Elections’ highest duty is to ensure that voters get a accurate count when they exercise their right to vote.

More than six months ago, voting experts at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center detected an alarming pattern at one polling place in the South Bronx: The tallies from the electronic scanning machines at Public School 65 included high proportions of invalidated votes.

There were two possibilities: Either huge numbers of voters had improperly filled out their ballots, or at least one of the scanners had gone haywire. The board did nothing. Actually, the board did worse than nothing. It refused to check, even when asked to do so by State election officials.

Using the Freedom of Information Law, the Daily News editorial page then demanded the right to inspect ballots cast at PS 65 in the 2010 primary and general elections.

The board complied, making what may be the first time members of the public in New York State have been given permission to look over cast ballots and review how they were counted.

They discovered that voters had done their part correctly, while one of the three scanners at PS 65 misread and miscounted votes. Here are the disgraceful findings: In the September primary, the scanner processed 103 ballots and made errors on 69 of them, a failure rate approaching 70%. In the November general election, the scanner handled 289 ballots and misread votes on 156 of them, a 54% failure rate.

The two types of errors were: Identifying so-called overvotes when there was none and not counting the valid vote. Time after time, looking at photographic images of the ballots that are recorded by the scanners, ballots that were perfectly filled out: one vote for Cuomo, one vote for Eric Schneiderman, then running for attorney general, one vote for Kirsten Gillibrand, running for Senate. And, time after time, the machine had registered overvotes where none existed. For example, detecting a valid Cuomo vote while also recording phantom votes for Paladino and for the five other lesser-known candidates, plus a write-in. On other ballots, voters chose not to fill out an oval in a particular race and the machine recorded that they had filled one in. For example, a voter opted to skip the contest between Gillibrand and Democratic primary challenger Gail Goode but the scanner scored a vote for Goode.

The board and the scanner supplier, Election Systems & Software, swear the machines are accurate and that the machines are calibrated and tested before every Election Day.

That’s not what happened and the failures occurred twice. There must a complete investigation by an independent authority that examines the faulty machine and goes far into checking on the possibility of broader undetected failures.

The New York City Board of Elections cannot be trusted with the inquiry. It’s an outdated, unaccountable, mismanaged operation without a Director and dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties. It should be replaced by a professional, nonpartisan Board of Elections.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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The Voter ID Issues

In an election year it is the mechanics of voting and who will get to vote in November that is getting full-time attention from state legislators, election lawyers, and judges.

Here’s the status of some recently enacted voter ID laws and states where such laws might be considered this year:

Alabama: Enacted but may be blocked
Kansas: Recently enacted
Minnesota: May be enacted this year
Mississippi: Enacted but may be blocked
Missouri: May be enacted this year
Pennsylvania: May be enacted this year
Rhode Island: Recently enacted
South Carolina: Enacted but blocked
Tennessee: Recently enacted
Texas: Enacted but likely to be blocked
Virginia: May be enacted this year

With all the effort and costs to pass this type of laws would have been better used to remove the following problems with the current state voting systems.

1. Remove a voter from voting rolls when a death certificate is issued.

2. Comply with HAVA and produce a nationwide voter database, so when you register in a state all your older registrations (for State and Federal elections) are removed. Maybe for Local Elecions, if you live for six months in two places, you could vote in their local elections.

3. Compare registered name and social security number match.

4. When a person is registered for jury duty but indicates they are not eligible due to not being a citizen, remove them from the voter rolls.

Let me know if you have other ideas.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Three-Judge Panel Appoints Magistrate to Help With NY Redistricting

From Politics on the Hudson by: Cara Matthews.

A three-judge panel in federal court in Brooklyn rejected motions today from legislative leaders to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s redistricting process. The U.S. District Court judges referred the creation of a redistricting plan and all related issues to U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann, who will prepare a report and recommendation to the panel.

The ruling orders that all parties appear before the panel and Mann at 2 p.m., 02/27, Monday in Brooklyn.

“At this conference, the Court requests that the parties be prepared to discuss special directives or suggestions, if any, this Court should give to the Magistrate Judge to assist her in preparing a redistricting plan, deadlines, and the appointment of experts,” the order states. “After the conference, the parties should be prepared to participate in a conference with Magistrate Judge Mann to discuss these issues.”

The legislative panel charged with redrawing districts based on the 2010 census has released its proposal for State Assembly and Senate seats, but it has yet to release maps for U.S. House districts. The proposed legislative seats have been roundly criticized, particularly the Senate map.

U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry last week asked for the appointment of the three-judge panel, which she is a member of, to decide whether to appoint a “special master” to develop new State and U.S. House seats for New York. Irizarry said the legislative panel wasn’t making enough progress and indicated court intervention might be appropriate.

The timeline for congressional elections this year has been moved up because of a federal court ruling that made June 26 the date for the primary. New York had to move up its congressional primary in order to be in compliance with the federal MOVE Act, which requires that boards of elections send absentee ballots to overseas and military voters at least 45 days before the general election.

New York had scheduled primaries for Sept. 11, which doesn’t leave enough time to count ballots and resolve legal issues. The petitioning process for House seats begins next month. The primary for state legislative offices is still scheduled for Sept. 11.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and good-government groups have pushed unsuccessfully for independent redistricting. Cuomo has said he would veto any lines that weren’t created by an independent body.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Governor May Go Back On His Word

During a meeting with the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle editorial board, New York Governor Cuomo spoke about the Redistricting issue.

Governor Cuomo covered a wide range of topics during his visit on Friday, including the window in which he would not veto revised maps drawn by the state Legislature, though he predicted that the matter would be decided by the courts.

Rochester officials have been critical of the proposed lines, saying city and county interests will be diluted in the state Senate. The proposed maps divide the county into six districts, many of which are based elsewhere. The city’s largest employer, the University of Rochester, will be represented by a senator from a Buffalo suburb, under the current proposal.

Cuomo said he would veto the lines as they are, but said there are three conditions under which he would approve them.

He said the lines must be more fair, “less hyper political” than they are now. Also, the state Legislature must commit to passing a constitutional amendment. Lastly, a law must be passed to reform the system, in case a constitutional amendment, which requires passage over two years, is never passed.

“I think that is the optimum you could have,” he said.

Cuomo’s spokesman, Josh Vlasto, said later that the law would not call for an independent redistricting panel. It is unclear what reforms to the system the law would implement.

Update
Gov. Cuomo still stands ready to veto the legislative district boundaries drawn by the Legislature. Lawyers for the legislative leaders filed papers asking a federal three-judge panel to hold off on appointing a special master to draw the state and congressional district lines instead of the Legislature.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Voting Rights Act under siege

From Political By JOSH GERSTEIN.

An intensifying conservative legal assault on the Voting Rights Act could precipitate what many civil rights advocates regard as the nuclear option: a court ruling striking down one of the core elements of the landmark 1965 law guaranteeing African Americans and other minorities access to the ballot box. At the same time, the view that states should have free rein to change their election laws even in places with a history of Jim Crow seems to be gaining traction within the Republican Party.

Use the above link to read Josh's 3 part column.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Bill Moving Independent Petition Deadline Advances

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On February 16, the New York Assembly Election Law Committee passed A9271, which moves the independent petition deadline from August to May. The bill also lowers the number of signatures for a candidate to get on a primary ballot by 25%, and shrinks the petitioning period for primary petitions from 38 days to 28 days. The bill does not change the number of signatures needed for independent candidates.

If the bill is signed into law in its present wording, it would be unconstitutional, because the independent petition deadline would not pass muster under Anderson v Celebrezze.

Anderson v Celebrezze
John B. Anderson was a declared candidate for the 1980 presidential election. On 16 May 1980, Anderson's supporters filed a nominating petition to the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Then secretary Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. rejected the petition, because it was not filed by the state's deadline of seventy-five days prior to the presidential primary. At that time, the primary election was held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in June. In 1980, the deadline would have been 20 March.

The Supreme Court ruled that the statute was unconstitutional on two grounds. First, the statute violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution by placing too high of a burden to petition the government. Second, the deadline was earlier than that required by candidates in the major parties, thereby violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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