http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1769&dept_id=74958&newsid=15376658
10/13/2005
By Norma Jean Howland, Correspondent
WOODSTOCK - Town officials, like many their counterparts in
the region, are grappling with the added cost of implementing the federal Help
America Vote Act, which has doubled Woodstock's election budget for 2006.
The town's election budget is projected at $25,275, compared
to the current year's budget of $12,575.
The Help America Vote Act, adopted in 2002, is aimed at
increasing voter access to elections and requires that all voters, including
those with disabilities, are able to vote independently and with privacy
protections. Under the legislation, local elections will be taken over by
counties by Jan. 1, 2006. Voters will cast ballots electronically, rather than
using mechanical machines that have been used for decades.
Ulster County Legislature Majority Leader Michael Stock,
R-Woodstock, told Town Board members Tuesday that he favors an optical scanner
voting machine, which he said will cost less than the other option on the
table, direct record electronic, or DRE, machines.
"I'm leaning towards the optical scanner," he
said.
Councilwoman Liz Simonson noted that the League of Women
Voters in New York has also endorsed the optical scan system. "No one
wants to go with the DRE machines," she said. "I think they are
really a bad deal in getting every vote counted."
Simonson said the DRE machines caused problems in Florida
that cost the state about $24 million. "I hope that the Ulster County
Legislature will delve into the problems with the machines and make the right
decision," she said.
Saratoga County also experienced problems with DRE machines,
Simonson said. "They had so many problems with counting, they let the
manufacturer do the counting for them," she said. "That's really
scary."
After the Nov. 8 election, Stock said, the county plans to
schedule a public forum to demonstrate both types of voting machines to the
general public and town officials. "It will be a public forum, hands
on," he said. "Rest assured we have good representation."
Town Supervisor Jeremy Wilber said he is also in favor of optical
scan-type voting.
"I hope very much that the commissioners will be very
careful," said Wilber. "If I had my druthers, I'd keep the machines
we have."
İDaily Freeman 2005
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