NYS to Reform Vote Counting Issue

Thanks to Ballot Access News and Nancy Hanks for this post.

Will watching the streaming of a New York State Board of Elections meeting I realized there was a problem with how the board was going to program their new optical scanning machines when counting votes. I made my Executive Committee members' of the New York City Independence Party Organizations aware of the problem. Some of the other minor parties started a court case and allowed the Independence Party to be part of the case.

On September 8, the New York State Board of Elections settled the lawsuit that had been brought by the Conservative Party, the Working Families Party, and the Taxpayers Party, on the subject of how to count votes when a voter erroneously casts two votes (one vote under each party label) for a single candidate. The parties had sued the Board last year, because the state was automatically giving that vote only to the party closer to the top of the ballot in upstate and on the left in New York City, due to ballot formats. In New York, the parties are listed on the ballot in order of how many votes they received for Governor, so the Democratic and Republican Parties are always closer to the top or the left of the ballot than all other parties. Therefore, the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party, would get the vote, and the minor party would not.

In May 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff had refused the Board’s request to dismiss this case. That was a signal that the judge felt the case had significant merit, although he hadn’t yet made a final ruling. So, the state decided to stop defending the old policy, and agreed to a fairer system.

The Board of Elections will cause the optical scan voting machines to alert voters when they have double-voted. The machine will display a message that says, “You filled in more than one oval for a candidate in at least one contest. While your candidate preference is clear, it is not clear which party you prefer.” The machine will then show which office is affected, and ask the voter to vote again. The message will also tell the voter that if the voter doesn’t re-do the ballot, the vote will be counted for the party listed first. The voter then will have the choice to accept the vote or get a new ballot. Also, the polling places will have signs near each voting booth that say in big print, “DO NOT VOTE MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE SAME CANDIDATE.”.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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National Conference of Independents 2011 Update

This Conference was the best since I have been attending them. The content of the panels was informative, the production of the mock trial was up to theatrical standards with George Washington as a guest witness. Meet old and new friends.

Use the above link to view the keynote speech by Jacki Salit.

Thanks to The Hankster for inviting me to her group for lunch. At our table I meet:

Joe Gandelman, the Editor-in-Chief, at The Moderate Voice, An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right.


Rai-mon Nemar is an independent lifestyle advocate and the founder of LEGENDmag. With a background in music, coupled with more then 12 years of being an entrepreneur, Rai-mon is a forward-thinking progressive who's life work is synthesizing the independent aesthetic and creating a community for "indies".


Panel Discussion
Moderated by Jackie Salit and IndependentVoting.org General Counsel, Harry Kresky with:

•John Avlon, Senior Political Consultant, TheDailyBeast.com; Founder, No Labels
•Theresa Amato, Ralph Nader’s Presidential Campaign Manager in 2004
•James Mangia, Executive Director, St. John's Well Child & Family Center and Founding Secretary, National Reform Party
•Bradley Tusk, Founder, Tusk Strategies; Campaign Manager Bloomberg 2009
•Lenora Fulani, Co-founder, IndependentVoting.org
•Michael Hardy, General Counsel, National Action Network
•Cathy Stewart, Chair, New York County Independence Party
•Douglas Schoen, pollster and author

Use this link to view the panel discussion.

This great panel discussed among many issues, how to expand the independents' issues, including our concept of "Open Primaries, Open Ballot". Here are my notes from the meeting:

•How do we take local issues and wrap them around the need for Structural Political Reform to get the right candidates on the ballot so all the voters' can take part in the primary process to address this issues?
•The process you go through affects the outcomes you get!
•Were are the local Good Government Groups' on the issue of Structural Political Reform and how can we take advantage of their voices?
•How do we explain the independent concepts of Open Primaries and Open Ballots?

How would you answer my questions?









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Top Two voting: More democratic or not?

Thanks to the Hankster for this post.

Does Top Two voting make elections more democratic, or is it in fact anti-democratic?

While a variety of organizations are working for electoral reform that will give more sway to independent voters and voters in the political middle, there are sharp disagreements about Top Two in particular.

Ken Bingenheimer, at the National Common Ground Examiner have asked proponents on both sides of this argument to state their cases. On the pro side is Nancy Hanks, who runs The Hankster blog and is affiliated with the Committee for a Unified Independent Party. Speaking for the con side is Solomon Kleinsmith, who operates the Rise of the Center blog. With today's opening pieces begins a series that will follow with two rounds of rebuttal and one wrap-up where the two will discuss their areas of common ground.

Use the above link to read the article.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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The Open Primary Fight

In 2011 the Open Primary fight is expanding. The phrase "Open Primary" includes: Non-Partisan Municipal Elections, state Open Primaries or Top Two, and the fight to keep open primaries from the parties' effort to close them.

All over this country these fights are growing and the people on either side of these issues are getting more media time. If you have been reading my blog you know I am a strong advocate for the opening or keeping open the ability for all registered voters to take part in our electoral process and the ability for anyone who wants to run having the ability to get on the ballot.

On Ballot Access News this issue had one of the largest number of comments.

On The Hankster Harry Kresky, Counsel to IndependentVoting.org, wrote this response to Ballot Access News.

On February 12, 2011, IndependentVoting.org is sponsoring a FREE National Conference of Independents in New York City to discuss Can Independents Reform America? and there will be sessions about the Open Primary issue. Please attend so I can meet and discuss these issues with you.

One issue that is starting to get traction is how to pay for closed primaries. If a party wants to have a closed primary should the state pay for it with tax dollars from all residents? If this were to happen, how would you construct the law change?
My answer to this is Open Primary/Top Two and remove the problem.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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