Editor, River Journal:
The Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE) is considering the purchase of new voting machines before the 2020 elections. Unfortunately, the County is limited to considering machines that have been certified by the New Your State BOE, and the machines currently certified have serious security problems according to experts in the field.
If New York counties are to have access to reliable and secure voting equipment, the State Board of Elections needs to implement procurement procedures that result in the certification of voting machines that meet important standards for reliability and security. The request for proposal (RFP) process commonly used by corporations and other government agencies would allow the Board of Elections to specify criteria that all voting machines must meet in order to be considered for purchase by county governments.
How can you help make this happen? Ask your New York State Assembly and Senate representatives to support and cosponsor legislation, such as A8449 and S6734, that will require the New York State BOE to develop an RFP system for certification of voting equipment. These bills will help ensure that New York counties can purchase equipment that will accurately record and report votes in all New York elections.
Changing the voting machine procurement process is an essential step in solving the problem of election security. No more public money should be spent on vulnerable voting machines!
April Chau
Ossining, NY 10562
