| Two Election Law Experts Say New York Could Fall Short in Election Reform Efforts |
| 6/25/2003 |
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Read the Press Release
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Two Election Law Experts Say New York Falls Short in Election Reform Efforts 6/25/03, New York City — 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 (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 feature |
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