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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/opinion/24tue3.html?_r=2

New York Times

January 24, 2006

Editorial

'Dead Last' in Voting Reform

There are times when residents of New York can only look to the State Capitol in Albany and ask, What in tarnation are those people doing? Here we are, more than five years after the disastrous presidential vote in 2000 prompted Congress to pass the Help America Vote Act. That powerful law provides each state with lots of money to revamp its old voting systems. And so far, every state except New York has gotten the job started.

New York is so far behind the rest of the country that the Justice Department has threatened to sue, and that could cost New York some of $2.3 billion in federal funds for fixing the voting system.

First, blame the lawmakers: Gov. George Pataki, State Senator Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Instead of passing legislation in 2004, they finally agreed on a middling package last June. That was excruciatingly late to get new voting systems in place by this year's elections.

Dawdling, of course, has always been one of the Legislature's strong suits. But it is not hard to imagine how lobbyists, smelling this huge vat of money, have been driving things. The salespeople are pushing for equipment that can be too expensive and not secure enough. What every New York voter needs is what every other American voter needs - a verifiable paper record. But agents for voting machine companies have been trying to convince state leaders that they cannot deliver those machines, at least not quickly.

The most promising solution is to use a system that is available, works well and provides paper for recounting, which is required so often in this state. That is the optical scanning machine, which is cheaper than other electronic machines. Most companies make them, even though some try to keep that hidden, probably so they can sell more expensive machines.

The state needs to end this embarrassing delay, and the state's lawmakers should make certain that they are serving voters, not vendors and their powerful lobbyists. The Board of Elections needs to set guidelines that require systems that are secure and controlled by the state. And any New Yorkers with clout in Washington - like Governor Pataki, Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg - need to start pleading with the Justice Department to give New York time to get it right.

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