http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vphav035037684jan03,0,4961125.story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines
Newsday.com
New York shouldn't scramble to adopt untried system
before 2008 election
January 3, 2007
It's now clear that the New York State Board of Elections
will not be able to finish the process of certifying new voting systems soon
enough to let local boards choose wisely among them, train poll workers and get
it all up and running before this September's primary election. So it's time
for the state board to prepare to ask a federal court for a postponement of the
deadline.
This mess began with the chaotic 2000 presidential election.
Congress reacted by passing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, offering states
billions of dollars for new voting systems. But implementing the act has been
troublesome.
First, the body that the statute created to guide the
states, the Election Assistance Commission, didn't get going until early 2004.
Then the State Legislature took a long time to agree on implementing
legislation. The state was so late, in fact, that the Department of Justice
decided to sue.
In the compliance plan that became the basis for settlement
of the suit, New York agreed to provide a limited number of ballot-marking
devices to help voters with handicaps in 2006. It also agreed to replace lever
machines in time for the 2007 elections. But the state board has struggled
mightily with the process of testing systems and certifying them so local boards
can choose. Among other problems, vendors have been changing the software of
their systems on the fly, as testing proceeds.
In court, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is trying to
get a state judge to say that the new state law allows counties to keep lever
machines. Even if Suffolk got its way in state court, the federal suit would
remain. Now Nassau County, asking to intervene in the federal case, has
explained the step-by-step, time-pressure reasons for delay.
In other states, new systems produced some scary results. In
Florida's 13th Congressional District, electronic machines did not record
18,000 votes. In Ohio, Cuyahoga County spent $17 million on touch-screen
machines and $14 million to run the Nov. 7 election, but some in the county see
reason to scrap those machines and use the optical scan system.
If New York can't do it in 2007, it would be madness to use
a new system for the first time in the presidential primary of March 2008. New
Yorkers for Verified Voting says the state board should ask the federal court
to delay the new systems until 2009. That makes sense. New York must not be
rushed into buying machines that may not work.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.