County to voting machines

By Liz Hacken / The Citizen    29 May 2005

When Cayuga County voters hit the polls this November, they will have to savor what may be their last time with the old lever-style machines.

Under the federal Help Americans Vote Act of 2002, roughly $3 billion was allocated for states to improve elections and voting procedures. Part of that money is to go toward new voting machines nationwide by 2006.

While the burden of what style of machine to implement could fall to the counties, Cayuga County's elections commissioners feel up to the decision.

"It's got to be done," said Democratic Commissioner Dennis Sedor. "I thought leaving it up to the individual counties will leave us to choose what will best fit our needs."
    

There are two major styles of machines vying for counties' attention: an optical scanner using paper ballots or a computerized touch-screen model. Both Sedor and his Republican counterpart, Cherl Heary, are leaning toward touch-screens, also called Direct Recording Electronic machines.

"I think it's going to be closer to what we have, and people

will understand it better," Heary said of the DREs. "We're used to ATMs and touch-screens."

State lawmakers recently agreed to leave the decision of what machine to use to the counties but set requirements the machines must meet. It's unclear yet how much money each county will receive to buy the machines, but federal funds will only cover those initial purchases.

Cost estimates for each machine type vary by manufacturer. An optical scanner setup for one polling place with five voting booths could cost $13,500, according to voting machine manufacturer Sequoia. With these machines, voters their candidates on paper ballots similar to SAT answer sheets, which are then fed into an optical scanning machine to read their choices.

Touch-screen electronic machines from that company could cost $8,000 each. With having to replace an estimated 75 machines in Cayuga County alone, that federal funding will be essential.

"One of our big issues overall is the unfunded mandates that are handed down from the state and federal governments," said Mark LaVigne, spokesman for the New York State Association of Counties.

"It's another program the county and local taxpayers have to cover in the long run."

NYSAC believes as long as there are restrictions, letting the counties choose is the best option.

"They can pick based on the local need, plus what will work best as a result of HAVA," LaVigne said. "We're all awaiting those standards."

No one may be more anxious about those standards than voting machine manufacturers. Elections commissioners are already finding themselves being courted by manufacturers touting the benefits of their machines.

"The people who seem to be in favor of one machine or another are rabid," Sedor said. "Obviously, there's big money at stake."

Critics cite many reasons why the system could backfire, including the lack of uniformity within districts that encompass multiple counties and how ing new voting machines could turn into a lobbying effort from manufacturers.

"It's possible that the machines could turn out all the same. But it won't be because of leadership in Albany; it will be by luck," said Blair Horner, legislative director for New York Public Interest Research Group.

It also may be too large a change too soon, especially in New York, Horner said. "Now we go into a race - a major gubernatorial election - with no warm-up," he said. "It could be major chaos."

Options for Independence Executive Director Guy Cosentino thinks the state has failed in complying with HAVA, a large portion of which is intended to make voting easier for people with disabilities.

The situation is complicated further by a non-technological population now being forced to use systems that could be hard to use.

"It's got all the makings of a disaster," Cosentino said. "We're going to have 62 counties going in different directions? That's not a good idea."

One of the main factors for Sedor in favoring the DRE machines was how easy it was to use for people with disabilities. At a recent voting machine demonstration, he found that the DREs were easier to use than paper ballots and optical scanners.

The optical scanners can also create problems in the long run for the county, especially with associated costs. Heary heard estimates that the individual paper ballots could cost up to 60 cents each.

And with people needing new ballots as they make mistakes while learning the new system and the possibility of reprinting them if candidates change, that 60-cent cost could make optical scanners more expensive than DREs.

There's also the issue of voter privacy. With optical scanners and paper ballots, there's a greater challenge of keeping a person's vote confidential while filling out the ballot and entering it into the optical scanner, Heary said.

There are plenty of concerns about DREs, as well. One question is what kind of paper trail they can leave behind and what kind of tampering could happen. But Cayuga County's commissioners still feel DREs could be the best option.

"Other states have been working with them for years," Sedor said. "It's not like they're online and someone can tamper with the votes."