Editorial: Preserve ballot integrity

The state’s highest court has a chance to shore up election law meant to guard against fraud.
By Times Union Editorial Board, Opinion

The current battle — over who has control on local elections boards to validate or negate an absentee ballot — is ultimately about the integrity of the bipartisan system that has long been entrusted to run elections as fairly as possible. We look the state’s highest court to make the right choice – that is, to reject an earlier appellate ruling and safeguard the admittedly imperfect system we have.

The question at the heart of the case isn’t complicated: What happens when elections officials can’t agree on whether a signature on absentee ballot documents is legitimate?

Georgia election rules passed by Trump-backed board are ‘illegal’, declares judge

A Georgia judge has declared that seven new election rules recently passed by the state election board are “illegal, unconstitutional and void”.


Fulton county superior court judge Thomas Cox issued the order Wednesday after holding a hearing on challenges to the rules. The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention – one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.

Two Men Have Re-engineered the Us Electoral System in Favor of Republicans

If the right strews constitutional chaos over the certification of this presidential election, two people will have cleared the path. Two men recognized and exploited the anti-democratic loopholes within America’s rickety democracy in order to deliver Republicans victories that they could never win at the ballot box.

Election experts raise fresh alarms about vote counting delays – and chaos – in battleground states

While several other states have moved to speed up the vote count in the four years since 2020’s post-election chaos, political gridlock in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin has prevented a change that could have paved the way for earlier projections: the ability to begin opening and processing mail-in ballots before Election Day.

Trump and allies plant seeds for ‘chaos and discord’ if he loses, experts warn

Donald Trump and election denialist allies at Turning Point USA, True the Vote and other Maga stalwarts are spreading conspiracy theories about election fraud in order to lay the groundwork for charging the election was rigged if Trump loses, warn election experts and some veteran Republicans.

GA Election Board's Controversial New Rules May 'Actually Help Democrats': 'BradCast' 8/19/2024

"Marks tells me that many of the organizations and media outlets misreporting the rule and state law "are from out of state. They are assuming that Georgia is like a normal state, and that Georgia actually has good elections, that numbers reconcile, that ballots are counted well. The problem is that Georgia does not have a reasonable system for counting ballots." She argues that Dems may want to be careful about what they wish for when fighting against "reasonable inquiry" regarding results this year…."What these rules actually do is help the Democrats," Marks argues. "Because they are going to need to do everything possible to protect --- if Harris wins, and you know it's going to be close --- if Harris wins, they'll have to do everything possible to protect that win. And without some of these transparency measures, they would have a hell of a fight.””

NY absentee voting law argued in appellate court ahead of election

A voting law that Republicans claim could lead to rampant voter fraud in New York is now in the hands of a state appellate court, which will decide if it should remain on the books or be struck down as unconstitutional.

At issue is one sentence in state Election Law that was added in 2021 when Democrats changed how absentee ballots are counted.

These Swing State Election Officials Are Pro-Trump Election Deniers

“Mark Elias..the findings in this investigation only represent “the tip of the iceberg,” because Republicans “are counting on not just that they can disrupt the election in big counties, they are counting on the fact that if they don’t certify in several small counties, you cannot certify these statewide results.””

The New "Over the Top" Secret Plan on How Fascists Could Win in 2024

"The best way to prevent this from happening is to widely publicize their scheme so public opinion will become so intense that they fear the consequences.”

Here’s what I’m hearing Republicans are planning in the event Joe Biden wins re-election & Democrats hold the Senate and take the House this November…

Democracy Undone: The Texas Placebo Ballot Plot

"Independent investigative reporter Greg Palast,... accompanied Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 92-year-old cousin, Christine Jordan, to the polls in Georgia, and poll workers repeatedly refused to give her even a provisional ballot until Palast intervened….After voting for half a century in the same place, she’d been purged from the rolls by Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp in the run-up to his contest with Stacey Abrams. Eventually, after multiple tries with Palast threatening lawsuits and making a scene on camera at the polling place, Jordan got a provisional ballot, although it almost certainly was never counted.”

No to Bar Codes

Don't miss your chance to RSVP for Thursday's town hall.

You’ve been hearing a lot from us about the ExpressVote XL – that’s the costly new touchscreen voting machine that has election security experts seriously worried.

With a track record of miscounting votes and your vote represented by an unverifiable barcode – plus a pricey burden on taxpayers – this machine has no place in our New York elections. But it may soon be adopted by counties all across the state. 

Join us this Thursday. You’ll hear speakers from Common Cause New York, Free Speech for People, and the Long Island Progressive Coalition, along with other election experts to discuss the threats this machine poses to voters and where it stands in your county.

Click the image to register for the Zoom meeting.

Mark Ruffalo advocates to keep paper ballots for New York

Mark Ruffalo:  “I’ve helped to pass the [Voting Integrity and Verification Act of New York.] … in the State Senate three times, but it keeps getting blocked in the Assembly,” Ruffalo wrote. “It’s frustrating and needs to pass this year.” 

In 2022, Rufffalo shared a City & State article on the issue on X. “@CarlHeastie please protect NY voters & pass A1115C so that we don’t have the same voting machines & issues as states like Georgia,” 

Georgia governor signs election changes into law

Buried in a controversial bill that many feel will disenfranchise voters, there’s one bright note.  Georgia will no longer allow the kind of voting machine which is now legal in New York.  To keep those voting machines out of New York and protect our right to make sure the ballot is counted the way we intended, let your legislators know you support keeping our current system of hand marked paper ballots. 

Push grows to mandate paper ballots as N.Y. counties eye touch-screen voting

"After nearly 14 years, New York's voting machines need an update — and it's raising questions about how a possible switch to all touch-screen voting in New York elections will impact election security after news reports both Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island will spend millions of dollars to purchase the touch-screen ballot devices next year..."They will radically change the way that we vote and they have some very serious negative repercussions," said Lulu Friesdat.. Before session ends June 6, organizations focused on election law and good-government groups are pushing for a bill to clear the Legislature to prevent the machines like the XL from replacing hand-marked paper ballots. The bill, named the Voting Integrity and Verification Act, would ensure voters can always vote using pen and paper if their polling place offers touch-screen devices. It would also prevent votes from being encoded with a bar code on the ballot."