New York: Erie County ballot case goes national | The Buffalo News

The national media paid attention today to the alleged ballot tampering in Erie County, and Republican County Executive Chris Collins took advantage of it in a Fox News appearance to harshly criticize his Democratic opponent, Mark C. Poloncarz. Poloncarz, in turn, blasted Collins.

The alleged tampering centers around at least 10 ballots mailed to absentee voters in Lackawanna who complained the ballots were already marked for Collins on either the Republican or Independence lines.

The investigation is focused on a Democratic clerk at the Erie County Board of Elections, but county sheriff’s investigators have emphasized that they do not suspect the tampering was linked in any way to the campaigns of either Collins or Poloncarz.

New York: Off-Year Election Still Costs NYC $17 Million | NY1.com

Next month’s general election will cost the city $17 million, even though the so-called “off-year election” has almost no contests. NY1’s Courtney Gross filed the following report. There might be something missing from the ballot next month — an actual race. The thousands of voters that could head to the polls next month might be even more disappointed than typical off-year elections.

Citywide, only three of the 12 judicial contests are contested. Of the three district attorney races, only one incumbent, Dan Donovan on Staten Island, is seeing a challenge.

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown have secured every party line.

Nonetheless, every polling place will be open for business.

New York: State counted only 74% of military, overseas ballots | The Journal News

New York had the poorest showing in the country when it came to counting overseas and military ballots last November, a new report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found. The national average for ballots counted was 93.2 percent. But in New York, 73.9 percent of the 22,303 ballots cast were counted.

State Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin said New York’s numbers may have been skewed because boards of election counted every ballot, including those that were returned as undeliverable, toward the total number returned. It appears other states may not have included undeliverable ballots in their overall total, he explained. Returned ballots can be rejected for a variety of reasons, such as they are mailed too late or there is a problem with the voter’s signature.

New York: Port Chester faces new legal bill in failed voting rights case | The Journal News

The village’s short-lived bid to appeal its voting rights case — undertaken despite a taxpayer outcry — has added $75,000 in legal bills to the million-dollar cost of fighting the Justice Department’s 2006 lawsuit.

The village also owes $125,000 in legal expenses for plaintiff Cesar Ruiz and an undetermined amount for his legal expenses during the appellate phase.

A divided village Board of Trustees hired the law firm Jones Day in February to appeal the 2008 decision that deemed Port Chester’s former trustee election system in violation of the Voting Rights Act. A judge had found the old system — at-large voting for two trustees per year — prevented the Hispanic minority from electing their preferred candidates to the board.

New York: Ballot fraud case testimony continues | Times Union

A city councilman and the leader of the Rensselaer County Working Families Party were among a parade of witnesses who testified Thursday before a special county grand jury investigating absentee-ballot fraud.

Councilman Kevin McGrath and WFP County Chairman Jim Welch testified about allegations that voters’ signatures were forged on absentee ballots and ballot applications for the 2009 WFP primary. “It’s inappropriate for me to comment,” McGrath said as he strode in. Welch declined to comment after testifying.

For both, it was the second appearance before a grand jury probing the allegations of ballot fraud. They testified before an initial grand jury in December 2010. That panel indicted two Democratic officials.

New York: Ballot Security, an Issue in Consultant’s Trial, Has a Dark Past | NYTimes.com

The charge being weighed by a Manhattan jury in the case of the Republican campaign consultant John Haggerty Jr. is whether he took $1.1 million of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s money to guard against election fraud, and then spent most of it on a house instead.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg leaving the voting booth in November 2005. Both Bloomberg and Rudolph W. Giuliani faced criticism over their stationing of off-duty law enforcement officers at polling sites. But another question, unlikely to be resolved at Mr. Haggerty’s criminal trial, is why the mayor felt compelled to spend what most people consider a sweet fortune on campaign surveillance in the first place.

On the witness stand Monday, Mr. Bloomberg defended such operations as standard practice. “It’s traditional, I’m told, to provide ballot security,” he testified. “The security is a process to make sure that people that want to vote have the right to vote and don’t get pushed aside or denied the access to vote.”

New York: State Heeds Minor Parties on Voting-Machine Complaint | NYTimes.com

New York State’s minor parties scored a major victory Thursday when the state’s Board of Elections agreed to alter a vote-counting anomaly that the parties argued was a threat to their very survival.

In a rare alliance motivated by self-preservation, the Conservative Party, the Working Families Party and the Taxpayers Party sued the board because of a problem involving new electronic voting machines. Computer software allows voters to fill in ovals on electronically scanned paper ballots for the same candidate on more than one party line, although the vote is counted only for the major party that is listed first on the ballot.

While the system did not affect the outcome for any individual candidate, it could have dealt a fatal blow to any minor party, which needs a minimum of 50,000 votes statewide in an election for governor to remain legally recognized for the ensuing four years without having to collect petition signatures each time it fields a candidate. The number of votes also determines the order in which parties appear on the ballot.

New York: Port Chester’s appeal of voting-rights case rejected | The Journal News

The U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected the village’s controversial attempt to renew a nearly 5-year-old legal battle over its trustee election system. A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that the village has no right to appeal a 2008 ruling that deemed the former at-large system unfair to Hispanics.

In 2009, Port Chester agreed to usher in a new and unusual method called cumulative voting, under a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. This year, after winning office under the new system, the newly elected trustees switched course, opting to appeal. Justice Department attorneys maintained the village had given up that right. In a two-sentence order, the appeals panel agreed.

New York: Court Shoots Down Port Chester NY Voting Rights Appeal | Port Chester Patch

Cumulative voting is here to stay, and Port Chester taxpayers are on the hook for thousands of dollars in attorney fees from the ill-fated effort to reverse the voting rights case. The decision marks the end of a divisive saga that included political battles, philosophical differences and lots of emotional feedback from people who live in the village.

In February, Port Chester’s Republican trustees voted to fight the legally well-armed Department of Justice and appeal the voting rights case. In addition to hiring two local attorneys, trustees hired high-powered lawyer Michael Carvin at a cost of $225,000. Carvin is the brother of Joseph Carvin, Rye Town’s Republican supervisor.

In April, a federal judge threw a bucket of cold water on the appeal effort with a written decision that the village “may not appeal a consent decree.” Still, Republican trustees and their lawyers pressed on, saying they had faith in Carvin and other attorneys, who said Port Chester had favorable odds in the case.

New York: Filling Weiner’s Vacant Seat: How a Special Election Could Work | WNYC

New York: home to the special elections brought about by sexually suggestive online photos and supreme bad judgment.

For the second time in six months, New York party officials will be scrambling scramble to settle on candidates for a special election.

With Anthony Weiner set to resign his seat, the timing of an election to replace him is up to Governor Andrew Cuomo. It is his job to officially call for a special election, and when and whether he does that is his prerogative.

New York: Kavanaugh bill in New York state assembly would make ballots easier to read and use | Civic Design

Add your comments to a posting on the web site for WNYC’s radio show, “It’s a Free Country,” that presents a proposed redesign for the New York ballot.
The Brennan Center for Justice worked with Design for Democracy and theUsability in Civic Life project to develop an updated best practice ballot design that takes into account the particularities of voting in New York state.

On the show, which aired on June 9, 2011, New York state assemblyman Brian Kavanaugh and Larry Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice discuss how important design is to successful voting and elections. On the show, Larry runs through the proposed design improvements and why they’ll make a difference. There are images of a redesigned ballot on the site, as well, and the show invites your comments.

New York: Technology changes way votes are tallied, reported in Wyoming County New York | The Daily News

Something very unusual was afoot Tuesday night at the Wyoming County Board of Elections. The ritual has always been the same — a flurry of phone calls about 9:10 p.m. after the polls close. Lots of chatter as elections officials transcribe the results, entering the numbers into the computer system.

But on Tuesday? The phones were silent. New technology has changed the way county elections are conducted.

“What we did differently was instead of doing it over the phone and calling in the results, we decided (the polling site coordinators) would bring the data card in with them, which they do anyhow,” said Republican Election Commissioner James Schlick. “I think it worked out so much better. The poll site coordinators are more comfortable and they’re not having to read the results over the phone.”

New York: Candidate files for preemptive order to enjoin certification in NY-26 | Electionline Weekly

Even before a single ballot was cast on election day in the special election in New York‘s 26thCongressional District, Republican Candidate Jane L. Corwin filed a request for a court order to prevent the election from being certified citing the closeness of the race in pre-voting polling.

On election day Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia issued an 11-page order preventing the elections boards in Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming, Livingston and Monroe counties from certifying the election until Buscaglia could hold a show-cause hearing on Thursday. Within the order, attorneys for Corwin had until Wednesday to serve copies of the court order to the affected county boards of elections, their sheriff‘s offices, the state board of elections and the other three candidates in the race.

New York: Corwin Camp Cancels Vote Count Hearing | wgrz.com

A court hearing to challenge the results of the election results in the 26th District Congressional race has been cancelled.

The lawyer for the Jane Corwin campaign camp made a move to impound paper ballots, but the Republican candidate has since conceded victory to Democrat Kathy Hochul.

New York: New software to help avoid ballot-printing errors in Jefferson County New York | Watertown Daily Times

A new software system will help the Jefferson County Board of Elections avoid costly errors in printing ballots. The E-Suite Election Management Software will enable the board to link incoming election candidate petitions to the voter-registrant database. That ensures the candidate’s name and address will be spelled correctly and limits human error. A misspelled name…