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Newsday

Levy won't pull lever voting booths

BY MARTIN C. EVANS

Newsday Staff Writer

September 16, 2006

Saying that replacing the county's lever-pull voting machines will be costly to taxpayers and potentially confusing to older voters, Suffolk Executive Steve Levy said he is willing to sue the state to block it from forcing the switch.

Levy said state and federal laws written to avoid a repeat of the 2000 voting debacle in Florida encourage localities to buy new voting equipment but do not require it.

"We in Suffolk County should not be inconvenienced or forced to spend millions of our precious taxpayer dollars because counties in Florida had troubles with 'hanging chads,'" Levy wrote in a letter urging Suffolk elections commissioners to oppose new machines.

But the New York State Board of Elections says that Levy has it wrong, and that should localities appear likely to miss a Sept. 1, 2007, deadline, the state has the power to select new machines on behalf of local election boards.

"We don't read that there is any ambiguity in the law," said state elections board spokesman Robert Brehm.

Brehm said the state is working under a U.S. District Court consent decree that requires it to document progress in replacing existing voting machines.

Levy said it will cost the county $14 million to purchase electronic machines, which he said could be vulnerable to computerized vote stealing. Levy said although federal funds will help localities buy new machines, it is not clear if the county would be fully reimbursed.

A report last month by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law said electronic machines being considered by New York State could introduce higher rates of voting errors.

"We're not going to ignore the law," Levy said. "But if we can get a decision that upholds our interpretation of the law, we won't have to expend millions of dollars and create anxiety."