Albany Closer to Agreement on New Voting Machines
By AL BAKER     New York Times  June 22, 2005

ALBANY, June 21 - State officials zeroed in Tuesday on a final agreement on a long-sought overhaul of New York's aging election system. The deal would pave the way for the replacement of the antiquated voting machines now prevalent throughout New York.

But, bowing to reality, several lawmakers and lobbyists said the plan would fall short, in some municipalities, of being in place by the federal deadline for the 2006 elections.

And should the state not meet that deadline, New York might have to return some of the $49.6 million in federal money it has received to replace its 20,000 pull-lever voting machines, since that task is expected to drag into 2007, officials said.

Members of many civic groups have been warning for months that New York was lagging in fulfilling the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act, which was passed after the disputed presidential election in 2000 and sought to modernize voting nationwide. New York is the last state to meet its requirements. Due to the delays, several lobbyists have predicted a messy scene in 2006, when the state will hold elections for the senator, governor and the State Legislature.

"What they're going to experience is a patchwork system, depending where they live," said Rachel Leon, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a nonprofit organization that monitors state government. "I can't predict the future, but I can predict some chaos in terms of implementation."

The agreement would allow each of the state's counties to decide which type of voting machine to buy to comply with the new federal guidelines so long as the equipment meets standards to be set by the state Board of Elections. But allowing New York City and the 57 other counties to buy different machines could prolong the process, especially, as Ms. Leon said, since state actions are still needed before localities can move ahead.

Gov. George E. Pataki said the final details of the plan were being polished. His aides said the final deal was being reviewed, though one sticking point centered on the issue of providing voting machines that are accessible to the disabled. But New York's two top legislative leaders, Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, and Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, characterized the plan as one of their major accomplishments for the year, signaling its completion. In fact, Mr. Bruno said he did not expect a loss of federal aid.

Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright, a Manhattan Democrat, who has been pushing for a resolution of the issue, said that in Albany, "nothing is done until it's done." But he said that most of the stickiest issues were solved, and added that New York had been awarded all the money due it by the federal government to modernize its voting system. That sum, which includes a large payment earlier this month, is $221.4 million, said Jeannie Layson, a spokeswoman for the federal Election Assistance Commission. She said the money is in an account held by the state comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi.

"With any election you will have some chaos. However, I think New York City will be O.K., and I am happier we will get this phase-in to give people time to adjust to a brand-new system," Mr. Wright said. "We could lose a few dollars, but I would rather be penny-wise than pound-foolish."

Mr. Wright said new voting machines would produce a verifiable paper trail of votes, to safeguard election returns, and have a full-face ballot, meaning voters will be able to see all races at once.

Ms. Leon, of Common Cause, hailed certain parts of the agreement. She said it would require a citizens advisory committee to be set up to oversee the ion of machines by counties.

State leaders have also reached agreement on the process for verifying a voter's registration, which includes several safeguards for voters. If discrepancies crop up between information a voter provides and the public record, the state board will try to reconcile it; also, each voter would have additional chances to fix any problems before an election.

The bottom line, said Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein, Democrat of Brooklyn, is that on Election Day, "no one will be turned away."