NYC New Voting Machines

With the presidential primary over, the city's ancient voting machines are back in storage. At 1,369 polling places throughout the city, 7,780 mechanical-lever machines did their job once again.

But under a court order, the state Board of Elections submitted a plan of action in the U.S. District Court to finally comply with federal requirements to ensure voting access for the disabled and to buy new voting machines.

The state agreed to a timeline that puts at least one new voting machine for disabled voters at each polling place by Primary Day in September 2008, and ultimately replaces all 20,000 pull-lever voting machines, in use throughout the state since the early 1960s, with optical scanning machines by the fall of 2009.

New York chose optical scanning machines that allow voters to mark and review their votes on paper ballots, which are then scanned by machines. This permits easy and effective recounting of votes, if necessary.

Testing will take place from May 2, 2008 through Oct. 22, 2008 and the new voting machines will then be ordered and delivered by June 3, 2009, according to the timeline.

Michael H. Drucker
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