Voting changes are too slow

State lawmakers' penchant for missing deadlines can be dizzying at times. Just look at their pathetic attempts at voting reform. The federal government started the clock in 2002, passing the Help America Vote Act.

This act, passed after the Florida voting debacle during the presidential election in 2000, allocated $3.9 billion for states to revise their election administration. It allowed them to replace their old lever-type and punched-card voting equipment with new machines, including optical scanners or Direct Recording Electronic voting machines. Predictably, New York has lagged behind other states in figuring out how to proceed. It will take a Herculean effort to have the new machines in place by the 2006 elections. Odds are, the state won't make the deadline.

If it misses the deadline, the state would have to ask for an extension; that could jeopardize receiving some of the federal money to pay for the equipment. The delays are disgraceful ? and perfectly avoidable. But instead of working together, the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Republican Gov. George Pataki went their separate ways and did not reach agreement on voting reform for years. And their accord reached earlier this year was far from complete.

No accord on equipment

Many New York districts, including most of the Hudson Valley, still have lever-style machines that have been around for decades. There is no consensus regarding what should replace them. In general, state Democrats back an optical-scan system, while Republicans favor the direct-recording machines. But until the state certifies actual machines, it's anyone's guess what will work best, especially considering the state added requirements to the Help America Vote Act. For instance, New York has mandated that all new machines must leave a verifiable paper trail that allows for accurate recounts, if necessary. That requirement makes sense, and more states are mandating such a backup system. But New York didn't eliminate the full-face ballot requirement. Getting rid of this format would have allowed voters to click through pages to fill out an entire ballot.

Now that they have New York's requirements, manufacturers have been working to build suitable machines. All New York counties will have to decide what type of certified machine they will purchase to replace the existing ones. But if the county elections commissioners can't agree on what to use, state elections officials will have to choose for them. Poll workers will have to be trained to use the equipment and to show voters how to operate the new machines.

Time is running short. Election officials are going to have to work out many details soon if the upgrades are going to be in place by the 2006 elections. At the rate the state has been going, New Yorkers shouldn't bank on it.