http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=439279&category=STATE&BCCode=&newsdate=1/13/2006
New York threatened with lawsuit for failing to meet
deadlines for new standards
By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau
Albany Times Union
January 13, 2006
ALBANY -- Advocates for optical scanning voting machines say
their arguments in favor of paper ballots got a boost when the Justice
Department threatened to sue the state for failing to meet deadlines for new
voting system standards.
Bo Lipari, director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, and
Aimee Allaud, of the League of Women Voters, said the Department of Justice
could pull federal funds from New York meant for equipment purchases. The
state, which is supposed to receive about $200 million to meet Help America
Vote Act requirements, should focus on purchasing optical scan machines, which
are not only more reliable, but cheaper, the advocates said Thursday.
They estimate that optical scan machines, which read paper ballots,
would save New York $100 million because the technology is cheaper than
touch-screen electronic machines known as DREs. DRE manufacturers say their
machines also can meet the objectives of the Help America Vote Act and that the
cost analysis is not conclusive.
The state Board of Elections, which must certify machines
that counties can then purchase, was scolded in a letter this week from the
Justice Department. Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim wrote to Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer and the Board of Elections, saying a lawsuit is
authorized against the state for missing Jan. 1 deadlines. Kim said the
department seeks an out-of-court resolution.
New York is the further behind than any other state in
creating a computerized statewide voter registration list or setting up voting
systems standards.
Eric Holland, a Justice Department spokesman, would not say
if New York is the only state to get a letter threatening suit or if the state
could lose funding.
State Board of Elections spokesman Lee Daghlian said the
board doesn't view the letter from Kim as a threat to funding. He rejected the
idea that the less-expensive machines are even more attractive given the
potential loss of federal HAVA money.
"The conclusion I draw is that we're not meeting deadlines
and that the Justice Department wants to sit down with us to see if we can get
the job done," he said.
The board, he said, hopes to certify optical scan machines
as well as DREs.
He said Kim's letter is comparable to notices from the
federal government in the past when the board failed to meet deadlines for the
National Voter Registration Act, known as the motor voter law. The state was
not penalized, but simply notified of its non-compliance.
James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at
jodato@timesunion.com.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2006, Capital
Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
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