Mixed News on Verified Voting in NJ

by: kwilkinson

Tue Dec 04, 2007 at 12:13:43 PM EST

A state Senate committee voted 3-2 today in favor of the attorney general's request to extend by six months a January deadline for installing printers on 10,000 electronic voting machines.
The move was denounced by voting rights advocates who said it would only reward the state's ineptitude. Extending the deadline would require changing a law the Legislature passed in 2005 requiring paper backups to electronic voting machines...
The committee compromised by extending the deadline to June 3 and adding an amendment to the bill (S2949) to require another hearing in February. The bill now goes to the full Senate for a vote. An identical bill in the lower chamber was reported out of an Assembly committee Nov. 19 and is also headed to the floor.

So far the bill would only delays it past the Feb 5 primary and not the June primary or general election. The companion Assembly bill A4587 has advanced to the floor. And from Newsday:

Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Bergen County Democrat on the Senate panel, was so dissatisfied with the lack of progress on the issue that she proposed a motion requiring the Attorney General to provide a progress report to the panel by the end of February. It passed 3-2.
The panel also advanced a companion bill that would set up audits of election results in randomly selected districts.
Sen. Nia Gill, the Democratic bill sponsor, testified that the legislation is vital to ensure the integrity of the voting process.

Gill's S.507 goes to the Budget and Appropriations Committee:
Kenny (chair), James (vice chair), Asselta, Bark, Bucco, Buono, Coniglio, Kavanaugh, Lance, Lesniak, Littell (Robert), Sarlo, Sweeney, Turner and Vitale.

The Star Ledger print edition is also reporting:

So far, the printers designed to be placed on existing voting machines have been unable to meet the guidelines based on tests by NJIT. Scientists there discovered problems with error messages, locking mechanisms and seals on printers from Sequoia Voting Systems and Avante International Technology...
Members of the Senate state government committee compromised by extending the deadline to June 3 and adding an amendment to the bill (S-2949) to require another hearing in February.
"We are sending a very strong message to the Attorney General's Office by passing this motion," said Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen). "This is the best compromise at this moment."

So, it looks like there's still work to do to get Gill's bill out of committee and follow up with the February hearings.

kwilkinson :: Mixed News on Verified Voting in NJ

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Mixed News on Verified Voting in NJ | 4 comments

NJ VPB law is the weakest in the nation. (0.00 / 0)

Nia Gills S507 started out as a rather weak addendum to what was then S29. Since then Nia has improved S507.

Smaller races need larger audit samples, as much as 30- 40%, while a state wide presidential race might only need a 3 or 4% audit to achieve the same level of statistical confidence.

Ann Milgram needs to take a lesson in math from Nia Gill.

kwilkinson .. was the panels vote to move S507 forward to the floor 4 to 1..... ?

Anybody know who the one was ?

The Ledger quote about seals is stupid, the seals weren't on the Sequoia Advantage because they were being shown in a demo. How do you take the printer off the voting machine if you seal it on....

DUH.

The major problem in my mind was the voter is not allowed to reject the 3rd VVPB, NJ State law mandates that a voter be allowed to do so.

Video of the Sequoia VVPB printer:

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Thu Dec 06, 2007 at 03:56:09 AM UTC

Yes, Gill's random audit bill passed 4 to 1 in committee (4.00 / 1)

The votes, including committe votes, are all on line now. Just put in S.507 at: www.njleg.state.nj.us

The no was:
Connors, Leonard T., Jr.
The yes votes were:
Coniglio, Scutari, Asselta and Weinberg

I find it hard to believe our VVPAT is the weakest in the nation, or at least that we're on course to be the weakest in the nation. It's a moving target in any case -- Can we beat back the Sequoia's etc. when they say an auditable paper trail can't be done? -- here and in other states. As far as I understood, most states are still trying to comply with HAVA, so everyone should be more or less in transition. Are you saying we have the weakest proposed VVPAT legislation?

by: kwilkinson @ Thu Dec 06, 2007 at 06:51:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Existing NJ Law sucks, formerly known as S29. (0.00 / 0)

It mandates printers, but nothing is audited.

The VVPB is simply stored for 22 months.

IIRC about 1/2 the states actually audit their VVPB. NJ wont, even if we have VVPB printers tomorrow.

There is a Ledger article from When Codey signed the law a little over 2 years ago (S29), I'm quoted as saying its the weakest in the nation..

I called it a toothless 3 legged cat.

Without NIA Gill I wonder if we would have had S29 in the first place. Nia's S507 is solid and has garnered national attention in election reform circles>>>>

http://www.democrati...

Howard Stanislevic:

S.507 is the first legislation to require outcomes of elections, as determined by electronic vote counts, to be confirmed independently of software through the use of statistical methods, up to and including full hand-to-eye counts of voter-verifiable paper records and ballots when necessary.

Check out the video above to see the PPVB printer from Sequoia.

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 21:33:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dddont get me wrong. (4.00 / 1)

We all owe Nia Gills thanks for what she has accomplished so far.

S507 will put NJ VVPB election audits on the map, without S507 even if we do get printers, we wont be doing anything with the paper.

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Sat Dec 08, 2007 at 05:32:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]