New York Court Dismisses Voting Machine Challenge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a New York court dismissed a challenge to the New York State Board of Elections’ approval of a touch screen voting machine, the ExpressVote XL. As of the time the lawsuit was filed, no counties had purchased the ExpressVote XL for use.
Originally filed in November 2023 by Common Cause New York, the Black Institute and five New York voters, the lawsuit alleged that the state’s approval last year of the ExpressVote XL violated state law.
The plaintiffs argued that the ATM-style touchscreen machine that can both mark and tabulate ballots does not allow voters to verify that their selections are correctly counted because the machine tallies the selections by producing an automated barcode, which voters cannot read or understand. The complaint also argued that the barcode system “can (and predictably will) provide fodder for those who peddle in election voter-fraud fearmongering and conspiracy theories about ‘rigged elections’ to reduce public confidence that votes are accurately cast and counted.”
Today, the court dismissed the case after finding that those who brought the lawsuit could not show that they would be harmed by the approval of the machines.