By Howard Koplowitz
The state was federally mandated to comply with the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which was designed to reform voting machines after the 2000 presidential election debacle. It is the last state to do so.At least one new functioning voting machine must be in place in each polling site in the state by September 2006, said Christopher Reilly, spokesman for the New York City Board of Elections. By 2007, New York must be fully compliant with HAVA.Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), a member of the Election Law committee, said the process of compliance should have been done “a lot faster,” pointing out that state Senate negotiators were “being difficult.”Gianaris said it is possible that the Board of Elections will not have time to install the new machines by 2006 and the Legislature will ask the federal government for a waiver for 2007, but he added that he does not know how the government will react.Reilly said that the more than 30,000 poll workers statewide who will need training on the new machines will put pressure on the board to keep pace with HAVA's demands.”Time is definitely not on our side,” he said.”We have to educate our staff before we educate the voters,” he said, and that does not take into consideration the millions of voters who need to be aware of the change. As the newly appointed chairman of the Sub-committee on Election Day Operations and Disenfranchisement, Gianaris said he will evaluate the success or problems with the new machines. Individual counties will have the discretion as to what types of machines could be used which include but are not limited to an optical scanner or an electronic full-faced ballot. The agreement mandates that any machine that is used has a way of being held accountable by tracking the ballots., a provision that Gianaris applauds.”I'm glad we'll be moving forward with a plan that provides a verifiable paper trail,” he said in a phone interview.But at least one borough politician elected to statewide office does not share the same view on the machines' reliability as Gianaris.State Sen. John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights), a member of the Elections committee, said he voted against the measure because he was “skeptical” about the accountability of electronic machines. He said he thought the state should have gone for optical scanning because the process could be easily verified and New York would still have received funding under HAVA.Reilly said the board currently is not leaning toward a certain type of machine, pointing out that vendors will be present their machines to the board in the next couple of months.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173
