New York State League of Women Voters Supports the Optical Scan Voting System

Opinion   Great Neck News    17 November 2005

New York State must replace its lever voting machines because they do not meet accessibility requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and do not provide "second-choice" voting (voting machines must offer the opportunity to the voter to confirm his/her choice). New York State received a waiver to implement new voting machines until January 2006. The New York State Assembly and Senate introduced legislation in the 2004 session setting new voting machine standards in the New York State Election Law but did not agree on what those standards should be. A HAVA conference committee met during the spring of 2005 and eventually agreed on requirements and standards in June. Governor Pataki signed the legislation into law on July 12. The law permits local boards of election to DREs or optical scan equipment.

Voting systems that record votes electronically (DREs) are only one of several available voting systems that provide accessibility for disabled individuals. Precinct based optical scan systems with the addition of ballot marking devices will also meet the requirements of HAVA and have many advantages over DREs. The documented failures and malfunction of electronic voting machines in recent elections, resulting in some elections having to be thrown out, have caused people to question their accuracy and reliability and look for a more secure and accurate voting system. League members also voiced that concern.

After weighing the pros and cons of DREs and optical voting systems, the New York State League of Women Voters support the precinct based optical scan system as the best voting method for New York State. The League's mandate is that any voting technology used be secure, accurate, recountable and accessible. The security and integrity of each and every vote cast is paramount, and the League of Women Voters of New York State are convinced that at this point in time, the optical scan machines, along with ballot marking devices for the disabled community, will best meet this goal.

There is no doubt that paper ballot optical scan machines are easier to use, longer lasting and more cost effective than the alternatives, for the counties and voters, in both the short and long run.

In optical scanning, voters fill out a ballot similar to a lottery ticket or standardized test, and then submit it to a scanning device that reads and registers the vote in just a couple of seconds. One scanner, which costs about $5,000 along with a ballot marking device, can be purchased for each voting location. Privacy booths, which cost about $160 each, would be used for voters to fill out the paper ballots, before having them scanned.

Touch screen devices would cost $8,000 to $10,000 and would have to be purchased to replace every currently used lever machine, thus far more would be required, each at a high cost. DREs are fragile, have a short lifespan and must be replaced on a regular basis. They would require more transportation vehicles and more storage space with climate control.

The DREs with a paper trail (to meet the "second choice" requirement) will be brand new, untried technology. Optical scan systems have been used successfully for 20 years.