Oppose S1014 to prevent an attack on our recount law.

Accusations of stolen and miscounted elections are the order of the day but, so far, only in other states. There are now two Bills in the NYS legislature that could threaten our effective and reliable voting system. Oppose S1014/A1259, which could make it legally impossible to obtain hand recounts of some very close smaller elections. Recounts: S1014/A1259 dramatically diminishes our hard-fought recount law. For 100 years, NYS had no right to an audit or recount of an election. In 2020 Governor Cuomo, by putting it in the budget, finally secured for us the first state-wide mandate to have a hand recount of any election with a victory margin of 0.5% or less, or 20 votes or less. S1014/A1259, if passed, will cut the mandate in half (0.250% or 10 vote margin) and allow a recount by machine. The narrower margins in S1014 could make it legally impossible to obtain hand recounts of some very close, smaller elections. These could include Assembly Primaries, Mayoral contests, and county legislative races, to name a few. We all know how slim victories can be, and the existing margins for a recount are minimal enough. Eliminating the requirement that a recount be done by hand further erodes our trust in the outcome. Hand-to-eye examination of voter-verified paper ballots is the only way to ascertain the true winners of close elections. Zelnor Myrie is the Chairman of the Senate Election Committee. There has been little public focus on this. I urge you to tell Senator Myrie that you oppose S1014 and want to see it die in committee to prevent the attack on our recount law.