http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=435672&category=REGION&newsdate=1/3/2006

No decision likely in voting debate

County officials say state must present options before choice is made on new machines

By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer

January 3, 2006

BALLSTON SPA -- New voting machines are not likely to appear in Saratoga County in 2006, Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Mary Ann Johnson said Thursday.

Despite a request from the League of Women Voters last month that the board choose optical-scan technology, Johnson said county officials must wait until the state lists the options counties are allowed to choose from.

"The state hasn't decided which (machines) they will certify," Johnson said.

It is up to the election commissions in each county to choose a system -- although, under state law, all systems must provide a paper record of each individual vote, for recounts.

Under the federal Help America Vote Act, the state will pay for 250 voting machines needed to hold local, state and federal elections, replacing the lever and electronic machines. That law allowed the Board of Supervisors to take almost $2.8 million out of the 2006 budget that would otherwise have been spent by the Board of Elections.

Barbara Thomas, co-president of the League in Saratoga County, addressed the supervisors at a year-end meeting. Although Democratic election commissioner William Fruci, a member of the advisory committee appointed by the state Board of Elections, prefers direct recording electronic (DRE) systems, Thomas said the technology is not yet trustworthy.

The direct recording devices record and count votes, while optical scanners only count votes from a paper ballot, Thomas said. Even when an optical scanner breaks down, voting can continue on paper ballots -- avoiding long lines while a replacement machine is brought in.

Maintenance of the direct recording machines also troubles the League.

"When we choose DREs we are essentially giving over the conduct of our elections to a private company; we are dependent on their troubleshooters, not our public employees," Thomas said in a statement.

The League also likes optical scan machines because they provide an automatic ballot-marking device for blind or motion-impaired voters.

Direct recording machines are used in Clifton Park and Halfmoon, where Fruci said they have been successful.

The selection of new voting machines is a long process, Johnson said. After election commissioners make presentations describing which machines they prefer, public hearings must be held, followed by waiting periods -- creating a time frame that makes Johnson doubt the county will see new machines within the next year.

"Every one has pitfalls," Johnson said. "I haven't made a choice myself."

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