By 2008's primary election in September, there will be at least one voting machine accessible to the handicapped at each polling place in the state, under the plan filed in U.S. District Court in Albany Friday afternoon. In NYC this will cost $40m.
The upgrades are required by the federal Help America Vote Act enacted after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The U.S. Justice Department sued New York in March 2006 because it was the only state that still hadn't complied.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe rebuked election officials at a hearing last month and ordered them to produce a timetable that they will stick to, reminding them several times that he could jail them for contempt of court if they don't.
The judge didn't indicate when he would decide whether to accept the plan submitted Friday, but the elections board expects him to respond within a week.
The plan submitted Friday doesn't say what kind of machines New York would use to comply with HAVA, but none of the touch-screen machines currently on the market meet NY State standards.
The only other type of machines that would qualify in New York are optical scanning devices that read markings voters pencil in on paper ballots.
Michael H. Drucker
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