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A vote for status quo

NY scraps updating voting machines, now faces scramble to save federal funds at risk after deadline passes

 

BY JAMES T. MADORE

STAFF WRITER

 

February 22, 2006

 

State elections officials have scrapped plans to install new voting machines throughout Long Island and New York City in time for this year's contests, forcing a scramble to prevent the loss of $220 million in federal funds for the new technology.

 

New York State missed the Jan. 1 deadline for complying with a federal election-reform law that was adopted four years ago after Florida's vote-counting debacle cast doubt on the 2000 presidential election.

 

Wrangling in Albany over how to implement the new law dragged on until last summer - and the state Board of Elections has yet to narrow the choices that counties will have in ordering voting machines.

 

So area residents who vote in the Sept. 12 primary and Nov. 7 general elections will make their selections on the same antique lever machines that their great grandparents may have used, officials said. The lever technology was first demonstrated in 1892 in Lockport.

 

"In all likelihood, in the large jurisdictions of the state, we will still see lever voting machines in 2006 but this probably will be the last time," said Douglas A. Kellner, co-chairman of the elections board.

 

In a related move, the board plans in coming weeks to lay out options to the counties on how to ensure that the disabled can cast their ballots without asking for help, he said. With the old voting machines, some levers are beyond the reach of people in wheelchairs and the blind cannot read the ballot.

 

By instituting these changes for the September primary, the state would comply with a key component of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 - and possibly strengthen its position against a future lawsuit, which the Justice Department threatened to file last month.

 

"We aren't in compliance now, but the real question that a federal court has to deal with is, 'Are you doing everything you can to get into compliance?' " said Kellner. "We, the state board, are going to do this right the first time, even if it means it is going to be late."

 

Justice Department spokesman Eric Holland declined to comment on whether the disabled accommodation would fend off a lawsuit or safeguard the federal funds.

 

New York became the last state to adopt election-reform regulations. Other states have adopted such regulations but nearly half have delayed rolling out new voting equipment or voter registration databases, both of which are required under the federal law, according to a survey by the nonpartisan electionline.org.

 

State legislators, while acknowledging they contributed to New York's tardiness, criticized the state elections board for postponing the installation of new machines. "I don't want to see any step back," said Senate Elections Committee Chairman John J. Flanagan (R-East Northport). "I'm not excusing what happened in the legislature, but [the state elections] board haven't exactly killed themselves by getting together as frequently as they could have to work on this."

 

Debate rages, meanwhile, in the counties over which technology to use: optical scanners, which resemble school-testing equipment; or electronic touch-screen machines, similar to automatic-teller machines.

 

A subcommittee of the Nassau County Board of Elections reviewed nine machines, finding the optical scanners would need to be modified to meet state law, which requires that the entire ballot be visible at once. The panel found prices range between $5,000 and $9,500 per machine; nearly 11,000 devices will be needed in Long Island and New York City.

 

The League of Women Voters of Suffolk County said the cost of optical scanners is less than half that of touch-screen units. In addition, when scanners are used, the voter generates a paper ballot that could help in recounts - one of the reasons that good-government groups cite for endorsing the technology.

 

Some groups have blasted the state Legislature for mandating that boards of election, rather than county legislatures that are accountable to voters, choose which machines to buy."It's going to be back-door politics that decides this and that's wrong," said Lisa Tyson of the Long Island Progressive Coalition.

 

In Suffolk, GOP elections commissioner Robert Garfinkle pledged to seek public comment before purchasing new machines, saying, "The public has confidence in us and we're not going to do anything to jeopardize that."

 

Replacing the lever

 

Voting, by the numbers

 

Nassau Suffolk New York City

 

Registered voters 900,000 927,000 4.3 million

 

Lever voting machines 1,500 1,723 7,639

 

Polling sites 432 350 1,360

 

Election-day poll workers 4,534 7,089 30,000

 

Electronic and optical scan are the preferred methods to replace lever machines. Metro-area counties are at various stages in the process. Nassau has examined options from several companies along with estimated costs.

 

ELECTRONIC

 

What it is: Touch-screen interface, similar to an ATM

 

How it's used: Voters touch marked areas, which change colors to reflect the choices. Can be programmed in different languages, and, for the disabled, may feature audio or separate Braille keypads. Votes and voter information are stored internally. Paper records can be made, but there are no original ballots.

 

Cost: $7,300-$9,500 per machine

 

Optical Scan

 

What it is: Scanned paper ballots

 

How it's used: Voters fill ovals next to their choices. The ballots are then fed into a machine and recorded. All ballots get dropped into bins in case paper audits are needed. Additional equipment may be needed to accommodate the disabled.

 

Cost: $5,500-$6,500 per machine

 

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