Art Chang, Chair of the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee, testified before the City Council Committee on Governmental Operations today in support of Resolution No. 1343, which calls for using available technology to streamline the vote-counting and reporting process in New York City. Currently, poll workers must follow time-consuming and out-dated procedures in order to report unofficial election results to the public.
"New York was one of the very last states to respond to the federal mandate requiring all jurisdictions to adopt electronic voting,” Mr. Chang said. “Our state and city expended considerable resources to purchase and deploy the electronic ballot scanners New Yorkers use on Election Day. Despite a massive investment in technology to improve the way we cast our votes, we somehow neglected to improve the way we count our votes.
There is no logical reason we should be using scissors, paper, and pencil to compile and transmit a tally of votes that are collected by electronic device. State Election Law should not prohibit us from making the highest and best use of the technology we already possess, to count election results with greater accuracy and efficiency. The law needs to change. We simply don’t have the luxury of delay—in November, we will be counting votes with the entire nation watching.
Providing timely, accurate results in City elections is a small, but important way to give New Yorkers confidence that the system works.”
Mr. Chang’s entire testimony is available on the Campaign Finance Board's website.
The VAAC will hold a public hearing today on its efforts to engage voters across the city. The agenda is also available on the Campaign Finance Board's website.