SMART Legislation is becoming SMART Elections Action. We will continue to push for actions that protect NY voters so that we can have secure, fair, accessible, well-administered elections that are publicly verifiable. Our goals also include affordability and short wait times for everyone eligible.
Please make a donation today to support our work. We had a successful legislative session. Although we did not get everything we wanted, we made progress.
The bill called VIVA NY (Voting Integrity and Verification Act of NY) to require pen and paper ballots as well as ballot-markers at all polling locations passed the NY Senate. We were very influential in this happening. We were told the bill was dead. All other groups had given up on it, but we ran a celebrity ad that got 400,000 views on social media. With the help of other groups, like Common Cause, the bill was then passed by the NY Senate within 48 hours.
If the bill can pass the NY Assembly next session it will guarantee New Yorkers the right to vote as they have for the last 10 years, with either pen and paper, or a ballot-marker (a touchscreen voting machine, usually for voters with disabilities).
Other legislative successes include
- A bill that requires better training for poll workers, including mandatory training on the ballot marking devices.
- A bill that requires plain language be used for all referendums
- We retained the right to full manual recounts in close elections (a margin of .5% or more). There was an attempt to weaken this, but it was defeated.
We’re hoping to bring an outreach person on board to help us connect with communities throughout the state. Our goal is to raise $5,000. Please make a donation from $5 – $1000 — whatever you can afford — to ensure we can continue this profoundly important work. And please do it right now, while you’re thinking of it!
We appreciate you. Thank you!
Smart Legislation 