Times Union: "With all this uncertainty, we’re left with the question: What in the current system is so broken that it urgently needs to be replaced with a new technology whose security, accuracy and legality are still being argued?”

Why has the New York state Board of Elections allowed the use of voting machines that some watchdog groups and people on both sides of the political aisle don’t trust?

It’s both puzzling and troubling. So, too, is the decision by various counties around the state to buy them even with legislation and litigation over them still pending.

This afternoon a state appellate panel in Albany is hearing a case to reinstate a good government group lawsuit against the state Board of Elections for wrongly allowing new voting machines that dispense with the indispensable needed for a secure franchise: paper ballots.

Yes, good old paper is the best and only way to have foolproof elections. It is something that Donald Trump has long insisted on and he is entirely correct. Unlike computers, paper can’t be hacked.

Times Union "The strife boils down to whether a touch-screen machine with a barcode system can be trusted to document votes as accurately as a person with a paper ballot and pen in their hand. If something went wrong, would voters know? Would votes be lost? “

Comment: Trump directed the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to decertify voting systems that record a vote within a barcode in the counting process. But like so many of Trump’s “executive orders”, it is more of a distraction that will never come to pass while obscuring what he is really doing to undermine the vote count.  

Memorial Day  is for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  It's a reminder that freedom is not a gift, but a responsibility earned through sacrifice.

To fight for freedom today requires a different kind of service.

Mark Elias  "We will not win the battle for democracy if those in the pro-democracy movement prize caution over taking risks. We cannot permit ourselves to be deterred by the inevitable defeats and public criticism that are inevitable along the long path of restoring democracy. Now is the time for fearless leadership and bold action.

 "The fight for democracy is the fight of our generation. It may not be the battle we wanted, but it is the one we face. The state of our democracy and the future of our country depends on our willingness to take risks, ignore the naysayers, weather setbacks and fight fiercely for democracy and free and fair elections."

COMMENT : It’s no secret that Trump is shutting down avenues to fair and secure elections going forward. Today in his disdain of law and fair elections, he is moving to get Tina Peters out of jail.  She is " a key supporter who was behind one of the most significant election security breaches in years.”  The Trump administration has swept away nearly all of the government’s election-related cyber defenses so further reports such as 2024 US Federal Elections: The Insider Threat (download available) are not to be expected.

Just 100 days into his second term, President Donald Trump has launched near-daily efforts to expand his power and has threatened fundamental principles like due process and the separation of powers. One political scientist Democracy Docket spoke with called it “an all-out assault on democracy.”

Now is the time to stand up and safeguard New York State elections against the security breaches that have occurred at ES&S and Dominion and the vulnerability of computerized vote counts. Insist that your New York State assembly members and senators support and pass legislation to protect our right to vote on paper ballots, with audits adequate to detect machine breakdown or fraud. Here’s what you can do.

It is essential that New York defend our current system of hand marked paper ballots counted on scanners.

   
Trump and Musk are dismantling major climate research and moving ahead aggressively with more oil and gas drilling - and even coal. With thousands of EPA scientists laid off, Trump and Musk seek to cripple climate action at a particularly critical moment to avoid catastrophic climate change. At the same time, they are advancing a relentless attack on democracy, including our election infrastructure.

Brennan Center. "What can states do to protect elections amid reduced federal support?...Regardless of what happens next, states — which actually run our elections — and civil society will need to step up to fill the gaps the federal government has left. “

Comment:  In the current  environment of security threats without the protections that the federal government previously provided, it is even more urgent that New York legislators pass the Voting Integrity and Verification Act of NY (VIVANY A6287/S7116) to protect our existing system of hand marked paper ballots and scanners.  With hand marked paper ballots we have something to audit and verify the vote count if the voting computers break down or are hacked.  ALLEGRA DENGLER

Zetter: "The security of the nation's election systems has long been in question – a number of security investigations and reports going back two decades have found significant and numerous security flaws with voting machines used by jurisdictions around the country. But many of the claims made during the 2020 presidential campaign went beyond facts about security risks to state categorically without evidence that the systems had been subverted to give Biden the election. Trump and his followers had also asserted that massive voter fraud had helped Biden win the election, but the claims were not supported by evidence."

New York Times: "Federal programs that monitored foreign influence and disinformation have been eliminated. Key elements of the warning systems intended to flag possible intrusions into voting software have also been degraded... And contractors who worked with local election officials to perform cybersecurity testing, usually with federal funding, have found the deals canceled....“It’s like somebody lowered the drawbridge, and there’s no guards,” said Adrian Fontes, the Democratic secretary of state in Arizona.... “This is incredibly bad.”

APNews: "Forcing states to change, the suit says, would violate the broad authority the Constitution gives states to set their own election rules. It says they decide the “times, places and manner” of how elections are run.”

“This decision effectively treats the right to vote as merely the right to cast a ballot, not the right to know what vote is being cast and counted,” said Marks. “That cannot be the law. A system where a voter has no way to know whether their ballot reflects their true selections is fundamentally incompatible with the constitutional right to vote… Despite the dismissal, the Court credited Plaintiffs’ advocacy with prompting recent legislative reforms, including Georgia’s enactment of a new law to eliminate QR code-based vote tabulation by 2026.”

While you are writing your lawmakers, add that you support the Voting Integrity and Verification Act of NY (VIVANY)  A6287 / S7116 and the Count Every Vote Act of NY (CEVA)  S471)/A4307.

The Voting Integrity and Verification Act of NY (VIVANY)  A6287 / S7116  protects our right to vote on hand marked paper ballots which is under threat

The Count Every Vote Act of NY (CEVA):   S471)/A4307 precisely defines the margin of victory for the purpose of triggering a hand recount of ballots.

Lawsuit filed by Coalition for Good Governance, an organization that bills itself as supporting “election integrity and election security,” against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) challenging the use of electronic voting machines in Georgia. The plaintiff alleges that the use of Direct Recording Equipment (DRE) voting equipment violates the fundamental right to vote by failing to protect against the threat of intrusion and manipulation by failing to “provide a reasonable and adequate method for voting by which Georgia electors’ votes would be accurately counted” because DRE ballots are “counted electronically and cannot reliably prevent or detect errors.” The plaintiff requests a judgment stating that the use of electronic voting machines violates the Georgia Constitution, 14th Amendment and Georgia election law and requests the prohibition of the DRE system. 

The greatest threat to Donald Trump’s authoritarian dream is not the courts — it is free and fair elections. While the courts can stand in the way of his twisted vision for America, they can never completely halt it. Trump knows this. Trump operates on the assumption that there will be no political check on his power. His plan to subvert democracy depends on the subservience of a Republican-controlled Congress. His worst nightmare is a scenario in which Democrats flip one or both chambers in 2026.

No joke. On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump issued an extraordinary Executive Order that would give “the DOGE Administrator,” that is, Elon Musk, access to the voter files of every state for the purpose of purging millions of Americans from voter rolls as suspected “non-citizens.”

Billionaire Elon Musk's unprecedented efforts to bolster the conservative candidate in next week's hotly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court race ran into legal hot water Friday amid accusations that he had broken state election law.

The Trump administration continues to push us toward a constitutional crisis, leaving our democracy at a breaking point. President Donald Trump signed an executive order attempting to tighten rules for U.S. elections and threatened funding cuts to states that do not comply. The order will be challenged in court by voting rights groups.