The New York County Lawyer’s Association’s Election Law Committee is presenting a free public forum that will examine issues of voter fraud in response to the city’s upcoming change to electronic voting machines.
The threat of hackers stealing votes has caused security concerns to rise as New York prepares to switch to electronic voting technology by the September 2007 primaries. Among the possibilities to replace the antiquated lever system are direct touch screens, which records and prints a voter verified paper trail, and optical scanners, in which voters mark paper ballots that are later scanned and recorded by electronic machines. Some voting right advocates are concerned that these new models may be vulnerable to tampering.
The forum is co-sponsored by the association’s Civil Rights, Minorities and the Law and Women’s Rights Committees and will take place at 6 p.m. at 14 Vesey St. on October 19. Panelists include U.S> Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney; Doug Kellner, co-chairperson of the New York State Board of Elections; and Larry Nolden, Counsel at the Brennan Center at N.Y.U. Law School. People can email dlamb@nycla.org to RSVP.
— Craig Stalzer
