State Awaits Electronics
Extend Deadline For New Vote Machines

By ARI PAUL

A bill that repeals the Sept. 1 deadline for New York to replace the old lever voting machines with electronic ones passed the State Senate July 26 and awaits Governor Spitzer's approval.

DOUGLAS KELLNER: Take time, get it right.

A provision of the state's Election Reform and Modernization Act of 2005 mandated that the state implement the use of modernized, electronic voting machines in accordance with the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.

'Machines Aren't Ready'

State Board of Elections spokesman Robert Brehm explained that the State Legislature acknowledged that it was not possible to obtain new machines by the Sept. 1 deadline.

"The reality is the new machines were not ready yet," Mr. Brehm said.

The city's Board of Elections, he said, could continue to use its lever machines. Mayor Bloomberg predicted last year that the city would not be able to replace the lever machines with electronic ones by the deadline.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in March of 2006 for not complying with HAVA's original deadline of the midterm elections of 2006. The state reached a compromise with the DOJ that called for a partial implementation of electronic machines for disabled voters in the midterm elections in order to secure Federal funding.

'Get It Right First Time'

Douglas Kellner, co-chair of the state Board of Elections, said the state will continue to test new voting machines and that there is not a single voting machine on the market that meets Federal and state standards. He added that states that have used new, electronic voting machines are using below-standard equipment.

"New York has said we are only going to do this once and get it right the first time," he said.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Member Ann Margaret Carrozza introduced the bill in the lower house. Joseph Griffo introduced it in the Senate.

"We have to have the new machines by the next Federal election," said state Assembly spokeswoman Sisa Moyo. "It's been a long, long process. But even in doing so, there were other states that were quicker, but those states have ultimately been having problems. New York has been able to learn from other states."

Mr. Brehm said, however, that the bill does not set a new deadline for implementing the use of modernized voting machines.

"The amendment passed by the Legislature on Thursday allows the continued use of the old voting systems until we have replaced them with the new, compliant systems," Mr. Brehm said in an e-mail. "We are still working with the Department of Justice and the Federal court to meet the Federal HAVA requirements."