Optical scan voting fans seek support
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
By Erik Kriss     Syracuse Post-Standard

Supporters of optical scan voting machines that read paper ballots plan a county-by-county lobbying campaign as counties prepare to choose new voting systems.

Voting machine vendors have spent more than $1 million lobbying for the main alternative to optical scan - electronic touch-screen machines.

The state Legislature is expected to approve a bill this week giving county elections commissioners the option to choose between touch-screen machines and the optical scan devices. 
 
 Most county elections commissioners in Central New York, including Onondaga County's, have said they prefer the touch-screen machines. Only Cortland County's commissioners have said they prefer optical scan.

The federal 2002 Help America Vote Act, prompted by the 2000 Florida presidential election, requires New York to replace its lever voting machines with disabled-accessible machines by next year.

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, said the optical scan machines would produce more reliable election results and would cost less to use and maintain over time.

The first generation of touch-screen machines "will be prone to problems," Lifton said at an Albany news conference Monday to announce the "Scan and Be Sure County by County Campaign."

Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. and Election Systems & Software, both of which manufacture each kind of machine, have been lobbying for the touch-screen machines. Officials for both companies said they would provide whatever machines counties want.

Optical scan advocates say their machines, much smaller than touch-screens, are cheaper to buy and store, will last longer and will produce a more reliable result through hard evidence of votes on sturdy paper ballots.

Touch-screen advocates say their machines won't require the ongoing expense of large, heavy-stock paper ballots and that they more closely resemble the current lever machines, lessening the need for and cost of training.