Although it all started in Florida almost a decade ago with the controversial election of President George W. Bush, the problem still isn’t solved in New York as voters gear up to choose his successor.
Even though voters never got a say on which type of machine they will use, the deadlines for the federal mandated Help America Vote Act of 2002 has come and gone several times over and New York has yet to switch over to electronic voting machines.
But ready or not, a new voting system is finally being put into place.
The vast majority of voters will vote one last time in the 2008 Presidential election on the lever machines that so many are reluctant to let go of.
However in 2009, all lever machines throughout the state will be decommissioned and removed from the polling district.
This year the first phase of the HAVA-required switchover has begun, as all polling places must have at least one ballot-marking device for handicapped voters. Albany and Schenectady counties were two of three counties in the state to choose the Premier AutoMark Ballot Marking Device. Rockland County was the third county to choose the AutoMark.
The ballot-marking device has the ability to aide any voter who requires assistance in marking a paper ballot with their vote. Those who do not require assistance in voting will use the familiar lever voting machines.
Saratoga County followed suit with most of the rest of the state and chose the Sequoia ImageCast machine for its handicapped voters.
The first substantial warnings on the issue came from Eliot Spitzer, then the state’s Attorney General, who issued a report in 2005 stating the state stood to lose nearly $250 million in federal funds if it didn’t comply to the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by the following year. At the end of that year’s legislative session a joint chamber committee voted to allow each county to choose its own voting machine.
The state had failed to meet the 2006 deadline.
A federal lawsuit was then brought against New York by the Department of Justice and the state was forced into compliance by selecting and certifying the types of machines each county could choose. They invariably led to more lawsuits as vendors and voting machine manufactures who were left of the list sued the state.
In the end, counties were given the option of an optical scanner and direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting devices for the 2009 elections.
The state’s board of elections has begun taking orders for new voting machines and is still receiving federal funds in order to purchase the machines, but some problems have been reported on the new voting machines.
Bill Biamonte, Election Commissioner of Nassau County, the second largest Board of Elections in the state, that serves over 870,000 voters, wrote a letter to US District Judge Gary Sharpe on June 26. The letter to Sharpe, who was the judge that ordered New York State to complete its HAVA implementation by 2009, Biamonte reported that Nassau County was experiencing high failure rates they’re finding in the systems they’ve received.
of the 156 BMDs (Ballot Marking Devices) received by Nassau through June 26, 2008 after the SBOE (State Board of Elections) acceptance tested them in Albany ` have substantial operational flaws that render them unusable or that require major repairs,` Biamonte wrote. `Twenty-nine were rejected immediately when they were unloaded from the truck because of obvious physical defects or damages, such as a broken side of the printer. Sixty-two failed diagnostic testing because of problems with the USB cord and the printer. And 42 failed Nassau’s acceptance testing for a variety of reasons, such as non-responsive keypads and battery failure. Out of a total of 156 BMDs, only 23 can be used by voters in the condition they were received in.`
On July 1, Nassau County wrote a second letter to the court refusing to accept any more systems until the vendor resolved problems with the voting systems.
Several local elected officials have expressed frustration or outright confusion surrounding the pending electronic switch over.
Bethlehem Town Clerk Kathy Newkirk said the local town clerks who are charge of the local polling districts have been largely left in the dark.
`Everything at this point is in such flux,` she said. `The voting machines that the town has owned for years are now owned by the county. I do not have any obligations for training [poll workers], it’s up to the county now.`
In Albany County it is unclear who will pay to store the new electronic machines, which require a more controlled environment then lever machines, and where they will be located.
There are basically three options: currently all the municipalities pay the county for its election based on assessment, which has been reported to be 20 percent higher than the actual costs in some towns; have the town’s pay the actual costs of elections; or have the county foot the bill for all election costs.
Bethlehem Supervisor Jack Cunningham said he believes the county should pay for the election costs 100 percent, a contention Albany County Executive Michael Breslin disagrees with, and added the towns are already storing the now county-owned voting machines for free.
`I think whenever you do the switch over it’s going to be problematic. There’s no easy answer,` said Cunningham, a former long-time information technology manager with KeyBank. `But I’m saying the best scenario is that the county pay for the cost of the elections.`
Albany County Legislator Richard Mendick, R, C-Selkirk, introduced a bill that the town’s pay its own true election costs. Under the current system, he said, the towns like Bethlehem and Colonie pay the county more money than what the election actually cost.
The county has maintained that it uses the same formula to calculate the bills as it does for all other county services.
In Saratoga County, one of the few municipalities in the county that already has electronic voting machines says it is also confused about what’s going
on.
`I don’t know, the counties have taken it over,` said Clifton Park Town Clerk Patricia O’Donnell. `We’ve already been using the electronic machines since 1994 when we first bought them. In 2004 we went totally electronic.`
However, the machines Clifton Park is currently using are not HAVA compliant and new machines will have to be bought.
Across the board, New Yorkers, both voters and politicians, seem to be wary of both DRE’s and optical scanners and say they wish they could just keep the same lever machines they have always voted on.
`I don’t understand we’ve never had any problems with the lever machines,` Newkirk said. `I’ve overheard some of my seniors say ‘I’m going to quit working Election Day when the new machines come in.`
SIDEBAR: Voting on voting
New York was presented with two voting machine choices
By JARRETT CARROLL
New Yorkers basically have two options next year, and unlike leaded or unleaded or cream and sugar, the decision will leave a lasting impact for many years to come.
With the 2002 Help America Vote Act finally being implemented in New York starting this year and being completed by the 2009 primary, new voting machines are slated to make their appearance in polling places across the state.
The two choices presented to the counties of New York included optical scan systems and direct-electronic recording (DRE) devices.
The optical scan system uses a paper ballot and is similar to the technology used in grading standardized tests across the country. A voter fills in the oval next to their candidate’s name with a pen and feeds the ballot into a machine that closely resembles a fax machine.
The optical scan system also allows write-ins that are scanned by the machine and then sends the original paper ballot into a sealed receptacle behind the machine, which allows for a paper audit trail and does not involve a large amount of training for poll workers. This scanning technology has successfully been used for voting systems in states like Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio for over 20 years.
The DRE system is a touch-screen machine similar to the technology used by grocery stores in self-checkout lanes and ATMs. This machine is completely handicap accessible, but is can be more complex than the optical scan system.
However, a variety of options are available for people with disabilities using the DRE system. It has an audio function through the use of headphones that allows blind voters or voters with severely impaired vision to listen to their choices and independently cast their vote. There is also a zoom feature for elderly or far-sighted voters to increase the font size of each race listed to a visible size.
For voters not able to use the touch screen or pad, there is a sip/puff tube that enables them to independently and accurately vote. A multiple-language capability allows eligible voters from diverse cultures to understand and vote in their native language with the systems translator software.
The DRE also allows write-in options much like the optical scan.
Unlike the optical scan, the DRE does not use original paper ballots. Instead, a printout similar to that of an ATM is created. This produces two records, one electronic and one printout.
All of the counties have chosen their handicap ballot marking devices for this year’s presidential election, with Hamilton County picking the only DRE system, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
New York’s 2008 Primary Day will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 9.“