NYCLA FORUM INVESTIGATES THE SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia – 212-267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NYCLA FORUM INVESTIGATES THE SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS

 

NEW YORK, NY – October 3, 2006 – The New York County Lawyers’ Association’s (NYCLA) Election Law Committee is presenting a free public forum at its Home of Law at 14 Vesey Street on October 19 at 6:00 PM titled “New York’s Selection of Voting Machines,” which will investigate the security of electronic voting machines and measures that can be taken to ensure votes are accurately counted. Forum panelists are: Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney; Doug Kellner, Democratic Election Commissioner and Co-Chair of the New York State Board of Elections; and Larry Norden, Counsel at the Brennan Center at NYU Law School and Chair of the Brennan Center Task Force on Voting System Security.

 

According to Congresswoman Maloney, “Every American who is eligible to vote on Election Day should have his or her vote counted. What’s more, each voter should be able to walk away from the voting booth with a paper record of his or her vote. Unfortunately, as studies have repeatedly shown, the integrity of many of these new electronic voting machines may be extremely vulnerable. A recent Princeton study showed that it would take only a minute for a hacker to install malicious code that could steal votes undetectably and modify all records, logs and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote.”

 

Similar concerns were raised by the Brennan Center’s Task Force on Voting System Security Report, released in June, which concluded, “…the three voting systems most commonly purchased today are vulnerable to attacks and errors that could change the outcome of statewide election.” The report outlined safeguards that can be taken to reduce the security risks, among them were: “…auditing voter verified paper records, banning wireless components, using transparent and random selection processes for auditing and adopting effective policies for addressing evidence of fraud or error in vote totals.”…

 

Mr. Kellner agrees that an electronic voting system should have a voter-verifiable paper audit trial. He also believes a principal benefit of electronic voting is that it would allow physically impaired people to be able to participate in the voting process (unlike the lever system that is currently in place).

The Association’s Civil Rights, Minorities and the Law and Women’s Rights Committees are serving as co-sponsors of the forum.

 

The New York County Lawyers’ Association (www.nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

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