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Sampling New Machines
Gearing Up for '07 Participants were asked to cast votes on touch screen computers, feed marked ballots into optical scanners, test voting systems for the visually impaired and those with other disabilities, and to vote in foreign languages including Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Russian. It's just one of several types of testing the state BOE is doing in preparation for September 2007, when every polling site statewide is expected to have electronic machines. "We're also doing environmental testing on machines," said Robert Brehm, Deputy Information Officer for the state BOE. "We've got to make sure they can withstand rain, dust, cold, wind, and everything else related to normal activity." The results of the time study will be folded into similar tests in Monroe County and in Albany, Mr. Brehm said. Ultimately they'll be used to decide how many machines per number of registered voters a municipality or county must purchase. The current standard of one model per 800 voters applies only to the old-fashioned lever machines that will be phased out of New York elections next year. Affects Bottom Line Whatever new standard the state BOE sets will have significant fiscal ramifications for cities and counties, and particularly for New York City. The fewer voters a machine can handle in a given time period, the more machines must be bought per election district to avoid long lines and other delays. New York City currently has 7,000 lever machines to cover its 1,369 polling sites.
"In some municipalities around the country that have used electronic machines, whether optical scans or direct recording electronic ones, the number of voters serviced per machine has been reduced to around 300 or 200, and sometimes even lower," he noted. Triple the Cost? If new technology means more machines are needed per election district, he explained, the city may have to purchase as much as three times the equipment it had before. It will also have to find adequate storage space for new machines and work around the polling sites that are too small to accommodate more equipment. The electronic machines vary in price depending on type, model and the vendor providing them, but all are significantly more expensive than the lever technology that's been used in New York for the past 50 years. Some of the expense will be covered by Federal funds, which New York almost lost because it fell behind the implementation timeline for electronic voting as mandated by the Help America Vote Act. HAVA, passed after the 2000 Presidential elections, promised Federal funds to help states rapidly revamp their technology, with special emphasis on getting machines in place that helped disabled voters. It mandated compliance by 2006. New York's State Legislature, however, bickered for years over which types of machines to use, and whether to mandate that all machines provide paper printouts for voters. Settled 'Justice' Suit In March, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state for non-compliance and threatened to withhold $220 million in Federal aid because it missed a Jan. 1 deadline. But the state was able to work out a compromise plan with the DOJ that delayed full compliance until 2007, while placing at least one electronic ballot marking device in each borough poll site for disabled voters during last month's primaries, and for upcoming November elections. "Some people say New York is last in getting HAVA-compliant, but I say New York is the first to do it right," Mr. Brehm said last week, as volunteer voters moved from machine to machine during the time tests.
Names Wouldn't Fit Three jurisdictions that used electronic voting machines purchased from Texas-based Hart InterCivic were unable to get all candidates' full names to fit on the summary screens. Candidate names appeared correctly on the vote selection page, but longer names got cut off on the page that asked voters to review their selections for accuracy. Officials were emphatic that the glitch hadn't caused any votes to be cast in error, but also said the error would have to be fixed by September 2007. It was discovered too late to be corrected for the Nov. 7 elections. Virginia bought its machines in 2003, less than a year after HAVA was created. "New Jersey, another example, rolled out one type of product, and then came legislation that said in two years every model has to have a [paper trail]," Mr. Brehm said. "New York has had time to do extensive testing. We're following the 2005 Federal guidelines [for testing] and I think we're the only state to test to that level." New York is also the only state to hire independent security firms to double-check the security testing done by the vendor companies. The state is compiling a list of vendors whose software and machines have been approved by the Legislature. It's expected to release that list Dec. 19. Same Machines Nationally Municipalities and counties can then choose vendors from that list to provide machines for their election areas. There do not have to be uniform standards across the state. New York City, however, will use the same machines for all five boroughs to keep uniformity within the municipality. Although the state has yet to release its list of approved vendors, the city has already taken some steps toward its final decision. "We've been told that we have to send our selection and a completed order form to Albany specifying which machines we want and how many by Jan. 5, 2007," said Mr. Ravitz. "We can't wait [to start the process] until the state releases its list Dec. 19." The city two weeks ago sent out requests for product information from all the vendors that applied for state certification. Mr. Ravitz said their responses would be posted on the city's BOE Web site sometime this week. On Nov. 15 and 17, he continued, there will be public demonstrations with the vendors. Companies would be invited to give a presentation on their products and answer questions. Public, Staff to Weigh In On Nov. 21 the city BOE will hold a hearing at which its staff, an evaluation team and the public can make comments about the systems they've seen and make recommendations. The BOE evaluation team will then start gathering information for vendor interviews. Mr. Ravitz stressed that the process was being done with as much public involvement as possible. When the evaluation team makes its recommendation to the board on Dec. 22, he said, it will be posted on the agency's Web site. The BOE commissioners, of which there are 10, will meet Dec. 27 for oral presentations. "All this is happening before the end of the year, unless there's a delay with the certification," said Mr. Ravitz. "If the state doesn't certify, we have a problem." The BOE's two Brooklyn Commissioners, Nancy Mottola Schacher, a Republican, and Jeannette Gadson, a Democrat, carefully monitored last week's time test at their borough headquarters on Adams St. A Wide Variety They said they were intrigued and impressed with the technology on display - there were different types of machines from Diebold, Sequoia, Liberty and ES&S. Some vendors sent optical scanning machines, which require voters to use a paper ballot and then feed it into the machine for scanning. Others sent direct record electronic machines, which require voters to select their candidates using touch screens. Some companies sent both types of models. All of them provided machines with special features for disabled voters, making the democratic process much more accessible for those with special challenges. Aaron Belisle, a voter education and access coordinator for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, watched the proceedings intently. His group has long advocated for machines that make it easier for disabled people to vote. It also surveys polling sites and communicates any concerns about accessibility to the BOE. A recent survey found that approximately 60 percent of the city's voting sites presented challenges to disabled people. Good and Bad "We think it's great to have more accessible machines in place for disabled voters," said Mr. Belisle. "At the same time, there's no point in having them if disabled people can't physically get into the polling site to vote." The Center for Independence of the Disabled conducted a survey of some of the voters who used the electronic ballot marking devices in the September primaries. "Overall, I'd say the response was very enthusiastic. The new technology went over well," said Mr. Belisle. "These changes can make things so much easier for people who want to participate but are held back through no fault of their own." Commissioner Schacher said the BOE was concerned about the cost involved in getting all its polling sites fully equipped with electronic machines, but that it was also fully committed to making voting as easy and accessible for New Yorkers as possible. "Brooklyn has the highest voting population of any of the five boroughs," she said. "And we have a high number of nursing homes, too. There are many diverse needs that have to be met, and it's our job to do it. But the panel sits with the view of being absolutely fair to the voting public." Will Prep Voters Commissioner Gadson said the board was preparing a massive outreach and education campaign to help voters adjust to the new technology before next year's primaries. "We must give the people every opportunity to understand what we're doing - it doesn't mean that you just look at machines and say, 'We'll take this, this and this,''' she said. "I'm excited about these changes, though. It's a revolutionary thing to experience. We're being called to invest in democracy with this new technology, because it allows all people, no matter what their challenges may be, to participate in the election process." Once a final vendor selection is made by the city, the BOE has an outreach plan to bring machines to community centers, senior centers, public meetings and other community organizations to allow people to get familiar with electronic voting.
"Any place that has a socket we can plug into, we'll be
there," said Mr. Ravitz. At the same time, the BOE will begin training its
30,000 election volunteers on how to use the machines and help voters navigate
the process. It will also enroll its election machine technicians in classes to
teach them how to maintain, repair and troubleshoot the new technology.
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