To the Editor:
Re "Check That Vote" (editorial, July 16):
You are right to focus on the need to audit elections. Citizen advocacy in New York State resulted in the right choice for the replacement of lever voting machines in 2009 — paper ballots marked by hand or by an accessible marking device, and counted by scanners located in each polling place.
Now the state must focus strongly on getting audits of the paper ballots right from start to finish, including the procedures followed when an audit detects a problem. Bo Lipari
Executive Director
New Yorkers for Verified Voting
Alpine, N.Y., July 16, 2008
To the Editor:
You are correct in calling for audit laws to check machine totals against paper ballot records. The election reform efforts that achieved a paper trail in most states would be meaningless without such laws.
Optical-scan machines with a paper trail will be the voting system used most in November. Though these machines are a far better solution than touch-screen machines without a paper trail, they are not perfect.
Most optical-scan machines still use infrared technology from the 1960s that cannot read erasures, stray marks and cross-outs.
Only an audit can reveal such markings, markings that are common and could affect close elections.
Audits and recounts should be standard practice, as they are with private elections for large unions and associations. This practice has proved to reduce or eliminate election challenges and instills confidence that the certified election results are accurate.
Jeffrey T. Zaino
Vice President, Elections
American Arbitration Association
New York, July 16, 2008