|
|
On January 10, 2006, the Department of Justice sent a letter to Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Board of Elections informing
them that: "I have authorized the filing of a lawsuit on behalf
of the United States against the State of New York as well as the New
York State Board of Elections, et al, pursuant to Sections 301 and
303(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C && 15481
and 15483(a).Section 401 of HAVA, 42 U.S.C. & 15511, authorizes
the Attorney General to bring an action in federal district court for
such declaratory and injunctive relief as is necessary to carry out
the requirements of Title III of HAVA."
Basically, we are considered non-compliant with the voting machine
provisions of HAVA (section 301), and the voter registration database
requirements (Section 303). The letter is clear that they feel NY is
the worst of the worst non-compliant states: "It is beyond dispute
that New York is not now in compliance ..." and "... it is
clear that New York is not close to approaching full HAVA compliance,
and, in our view, is further behind in that regard than any other state
in the country."
They state that resolution may be resolved through a, "negotiated
consent decree rather than through costly and protracted litigation" and
ask if NY is willing to, "enter into negotiations for a fair
and equitable settlement of this matter ..."
US DOJ Letter [PDF
~120kb] — NYVV Press Release (20060112) [PDF ~18kb]
|
