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Poughkeepsie Journal

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May 20, 2006

Help, don't hinder, voting

The Help America Vote Act could easily be renamed the Hinder New Yorkers to Vote Act. The process has been bungled from the get-go and it shows no signs of immediately improving, even though a federal lawsuit has been filed against the state to address the situation.

New York will miss the federal deadline to have new machines in place by the 2006 election. Other states' compliance range from partial to full implementation of the program, which was created following the debacle of the 2000 presidential election. Some states have encountered problems, but at least they are further along than New York.

The law is supposed to ensure all votes are counted, and it allocates federal money to achieve that goal. New York is slated to receive $49 million to buy new machines.

But it's been five years since the law has been in place and New York's election board only established its final machine guidelines April 20. Vendors have not even been chosen and the process is further complicated because county election commissioners, rather than the Legislature, will decide what machine they will use.

The chaos is obvious, so the latest compliance effort for New York has been narrowed to an interim plan to address voting access for the disabled in this November's election.

County election commissioners must notify the state board of elections of the type of machines they will use by Monday. However the state commission has not yet certified any machines. Four vendors have been identified, but have not been given final approval.

Troubled voting system suffers

This flawed process leaves local commissioners in a bind and does nothing to instill confidence in this overhaul of the voting system. Dutchess election commissioners Fran Knapp and David Gamache have determined they will set up three to five handicapped-accessible machines throughout the county, while Ulster's commissioners will set up only one machine at the Board of Elections. The counties must provide transportation to the sites if requested by any disabled resident.

Both departments, to their credit, have complied as much as possible. Now, the state board of elections must extend the counties' deadline on choosing these machines until final products are determined. Asking for official action on a plan that has not been approved is inefficient and just plain dysfunctional.

Unfortunately, the same situation is also proposed for county commissioners to consider the machines for use in all polling locations. Again, no vendors have been approved.

The state Legislature has failed miserably in implementing voting law. Local election commissioners and the state elections board are scrambling to compensate for Albany's irresponsible actions.

The state elections board should salvage one aspect of the process by at least not asking county commissioners to recommend buying a product not yet known. These deadlines must be scrutinized and ultimately injected with logic. The current time frame just won't work.