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Current Legislative Priorities

The League of Women Voters of Albany County works towards open and effective government and for issues that our membership supports. This legislative year, the New York State League of Women Voters will continue to work to reform state government, and participate in a study on immigration to help establish the League of Women Voter's position on this issue. We support the creation of an independent redistricting commission and an independent ethics commission, campaign finance reform, a "summit" on public authorities, meaningful lobbying and budget reforms. Additional priorities include protecting reproductive rights, equity in school financing, and establishing a fair voting system that will count Americans' votes.

Proposal for a New Local Program Study Announced:

“Greening our Albany County Towns and Cities: Encouraging Responsible Use of Natural Resources by our Municipalities”

The heart of the League of Women Voters is grass roots action. Our members want to make a difference and be involved in their communities; study and action on local issues is a great way to do that. It’s what engages our members and benefits our communities. LWVAC has a long history of action on local issues - the Pine Bush preserve, the Albany County and City Charters to name just a couple of examples.

Each year, at its annual meeting, LWVAC members decide on whether to pursue what we call “local program” items. This year, members have proposed, and the Board is putting forward for a vote at the Annual Meeting, the proposal for a new local study entitled, Greening our Albany County Towns and Cities: Encouraging Responsible Use of Natural Resources by our Municipalities.

Possible questions to be answered by the study:

• What are best practices in current use or proposed for other municipalities of similar characteristics nationwide that: encourage responsible use of natural resources; set a good example for residents and businesses in responsible practices; encourage residents and businesses to adopt such practices.

• What are the current practices in our Albany County municipalities that encourage responsible use of natural resources?

• What are current practices that are not advisable or responsible?

• How can the League best educate our residents and municipal governments concerning best practices?

• How can the League and collaborative partners best encourage adoption of better practices by our municipalities?

Would you like to be involved in this study? Would you like to chair it? Please contact Maggie Moehringer
(475-0960)!

Where we are on Voting Machines in New York State

Aimee Allaud, LWVNYS Elections Specialist

Each NYS county must have, within each polling place, an accessible voting machine for disabled voters for the 2008 election. At long last, at the insistence of the Federal district court, NYS counties have made their choice for this voting technology, and that choice will, most likely, drive the decision for the machines for the non-disabled voter also. We are happy to report that ONLY ONE county has chosen DRE technology! Op-Scan has prevailed!

Congratulations to our own Aimee Allaud, LWVNYS Elections Specialist, our LWVNYS Legislative Director Barbara Bartoletti, and our hard working partner from New Yorkers for Verified Voting, Bo Lipari, for making themselves heard over the voices of the machine vendors, their years of tireless lobbying, and for impressing on our Board of Elections the need to put the voting public ahead of other concerns.

Vendors to Sue NY Again to Allow DREs

Information from Bo Lipari's Blog (http://www.nyvv.org/boblog)

The DRE vendors are back, trying to force DRE machines on New York State voters. Once again, LibertyVote is preparing to go to Court to challenge county purchases for accessible paper ballot systems, and to overturn New York State’s right to test voting machines to strict standards.

On Thursday, March 20, the Cattaraugus County Board of Elections informed the State Board that they wanted to change the order placed last month for 57 Ballot Marking Devices, and instead want to substitute LibertyVote DREs for the paper ballot systems. Cattaraugus County is asking the BoE to bypass the testing requirement and approve the machine at the Board meeting on Wednesday, March 26. The letter of request lays out the vendor’s litigation strategy and arguments to the Court if the State Board refuses the county request to allow them to switch from paper ballots to an uncertified DRE.

We hope that the BoE will refuse the request; granting it would negate everything the Board has said during the last three years about New York’s rigorous certification process and standards, and would essentially cancel New York’s voting machine certification testing. If the Board approves this request, they will be enablers for a voting machine vendor that has demonstrated that when they can’t win approval on merit, they are willing to force approval by litigation.

Call the State Board of Elections ((518)474-1953) and tell them our regulations require full and complete testing of all voting machines, and cannot be casually tossed aside. They must not give in to vendor pressure and allow untested DREs back into New York State!