Justice Department Pushes for New Voting Machines

WNYC Newsroom

NEW YORK, NY November 07, 2007 —The Justice Department wants a federal judge to force New York to speed up the switch from lever voting machines to an electronic version. Voting rights groups have condemned the move, saying it would cause chaos at the polls in next fall's presidential election.

REPORTER: Barbara Bartoletti, with the League of Women Voters, says election officials may have initially dragged their feet, but recently have been on the right track.

BARTOLETTI: New York state right now is in the process of doing this very methodically with high testing standards so the technology that we end up buying is good technology.

REPORTER: The Justice Department says New York has failed and seems incapable of complying with federal rules. The feds sued the state on this issue last year.