Report and Document Downloads

• How many voters can be served per voting machine?
• Report to NYC BOE: Number of Voters per Machine [~235kb PDF]
• Scanner and DRE Voting Machine Problems Are Not Equal
• SAT Scanners are not Ballot Scanners
• More to the Story: VPAT vs PBOS
• Bias Toward DREs in Electionline 2006 Report
• Electronic Voting Problems
• New York Reports and Rebuttals
• Editorial Endorsements
• Info Sheets on Paper Ballot / Optical Scan
• Cost Comparisons
• Miami Dade County
• Other Reports

As New York decides on new voting systems, a key question is how many voters can reasonably be served by each voting machine? This number is essential to estimate costs and avoid excessively long lines for voters. To provide a better answer to this question, NYVV Board Member William Edelstein, PhD, has applied queuing theory, the mathematical study of waiting lines, to carry out computer simulations of realistic elections.
Read the NYVV report

Paper Ballot Optical Scanners (PBOS's) may have problems, any technology does, but they pale by comparison to the magnitude of problems experienced and threatened by Direct Recording electronic voting machines (DRE's). NYVV has researched and analyzed the evidence and offers a summary report on this subject.
Read the NYVV report [~26 kb PDF]

Should we question optical scanners in the light of recent news about grading errors with the Scholastic Aptitude Tests? Recent news about thousands of scoring errors in the grading of Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs) has been seized upon by opponents of the paper ballot-optical scan voting system (PBOS). They circulate these reports as a "red herring" that aims to deflect attention from the many hundreds of errors that are being reported from election districts that have implemented direct recording electronic voting machines (DREs).
Read the NYVV report [~15kb PDF].

Does the "Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail" Resolve Worries about DREs?
New Yorkers are being told that they should not worry about the numerous failures on the part of direct recording electronic voting machines (DREs) around the country, because NY law requires a "voter verified permanent paper record."
Read the NYVV report [~20kb PDF].

NYVV board member points out the bias toward DREs in the widely circulated Electionline 2006 Report [~25kb PDF]. Electionline claims to be the "only non-partisan, nonadvocacy website" providing information about election reform. Close analysis of this recent report, however, calls into question the claim that its orientation does not advocate a particular voting system.

Problems with Electronic Voting
Reports from Europe identify costly and troubling problems with electronic voting. The LibertyVote machine appears to be identical to the NEDAP PowerVote machine used in Europe. Here is our critique and three recent articles on the issue from the United Kingdom:

Are LibertyVote DREs the Answer to New York’s Voting Needs?
Problems with electronic voting in Ireland
Electronic Voting Unlikely to be used in Next Election
Powervote bags €4.2m from system not yet deemed safe

Problems with DREs continue to raise questions about electronic voting:

Summary of New Mexico 2004 Phantom Votes
Report on New Mexico 2004 Phantom Votes
Recent Problems in Electronic Elections
Problems with Sequoia Voting Equipment
Problems with ES&S Voting Equipment

New York Reports and Rebuttals
Reports and responses specific to New York State.

In October 2005, Onondaga County Election Commissioners sent out a press release incorrectly claiming that optical scan systems are not HAVA compliant, and only DREs are! NYVV has rebutted this unsupportable argument many times, but the pro DRE crowd continues to spread misinformation about optical scan systems. Download the original press release and the latest NYVV rebuttal:
Onondaga Election Commissioners PR and the NYVV rebuttal.

New York State Editorial Endorsements for Optical Scan

In June 2005 the Election Commissioners’ Association of the State of New York released a report intended "to give boards of elections a summary appraisal for which they may use as a foundation to narrow their selection of a voting system". But it's voting system comparison is flawed and contains incomplete, misleading and incorrect information. Download the report and our critique:
NYS Election Commissioner's Review of Voting Machines
NYVV Critique of ECA Voting Systems Report

The New York City Electronic Voting Systems Department Preliminary Report is a cost comparison analysis of different types of voting systems. However, it exaggerates the costs of precinct based optical scan systems and underestimates the cost of full face ballot DREs. Download the EVSNYC report and our critique:
NY City Board of Elections Draft Report
NYVV Critique of NYC Report

Information Sheets on Paper Ballots/Optical Scan
Single page summaries

• A one page introduction to Optical Scan with links
  
• Advantages of PB/OS systems over touch screen machines (DREs)
  
• Accessible Voting and Paper Ballot/Ballot Marker/Optical Scan Systems

Costs
The following reports discuss cost issues of different voting systems

• Acquisition Cost Comparison of DRE vs. Optical Scan in New York
  
• When Acquisition Costs Become Operating Expenses
  
• Current Indicators of Acquisition Costs for Voting Machines in New York
  
• The Gift That Will Keep On Costing:
  Operating Expenses and New York’s New Voting Machines
  (revised January 2008)
  
• Paper Ballot Costs and Printing
  
• Facts About Ballot Printing Costs
  
• Comparing Annual Costs of DREs and Optical Scanners
  
• Cost comparisons of PB/OS systems and DREs
  
• Optical scan ballot printing costs from Michigan contract
  
• North Carolina Fiscal Impact Bill 233
  
• North Carolina Cost Comparison
  
• Florida Cost Comparison Study

Miami Dade County
The Supervisor of Elections recently recommended abandoning the counties 24.5 million dollar investment in DREs and replace them with paper ballots and optical scanners.

Miami Dade County Recommends Abandoning DREs for Optical Scan
Miami Dade Supervisor of Elections Report (1.9 Mb)

Other Reports
Useful reports for advocates of paper ballot and optical scan systems.

• Correcting Misunderstandings about Paper Ballot/Optical Scanner (PBOS) Voting Systems
  
• NYVV Survey of States Using Optical Scanners
  
• Correcting Sequoia's Arguments Against Optical Scanners
  
• CalTech assessment of the reliability of different voting systems

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