To support our right to vote on paper ballots in New York, call State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie today.
Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins:
Call (518) 455-2585 (legislative issues).
Email: scousins@nysenate.gov
Speaker Heastie:
Call (518) 455-3791 or 718-654-6539
Email: Speaker@nyassembly.gov
Hello! My name is _____ and I live in _____, New York.
If there is one pro-democracy bill that must pass this session, it's the simple, short, non-technical bill VIVA NY (A5934A/S6169A).
VIVA NY will enable every NY voter to stay in charge of his or her ballot, ensuring that each voter has the option for a hand-marked ballot which can be verified before being cast, and will be saved unchanged for recounts and audits.
VIVA NY absolutely recognizes the need for ballot marking devices at every polling place. What it prevents is forcing "universal use" of BMDs on every voter. Every voter needs a paper ballot (as a permanent record) and every voter needs the option to mark that ballot by hand or by BMD.
COMMON CAUSE NY, NY CD16 INDIVIBLE, SIERRA CLUB (Atlantic Chapter), PUBLIC CITIZEN, CITIZENS FOR VOTING INTEGRITY-NY and NYDLC are all asking our State Legislature to protect the basic right to vote on a paper ballot that can be recounted and audited if machines don't function right.
New York must step up and do what Congress couldn’t do. Pass VIVA NY (A5934A/S6169A), which is language from one section out of the federal election protection legislation developed in part by our Sen Gillibrand, working with Senators Wyden and Klobuchar.
The S1 For the People Act would have guaranteed hand marked paper ballots but was blocked by Manchin and Sinema. In New York, it is blocked by well connected voting machine vendor lobbyists. They don’t want the public to know when their machines malfunction and miscount
VIVA NY could make the crucial difference next year and in all elections to come.
Please use your leadership and the tools at your command to pass VIVA NY this session.