NORWICH – Voters in Chenango County will be casting their ballots through a new electronic system being implemented across the nation as federal mandates compel state and county executives to utilize the more expensive digital devices, alleging that they are more comprehensive and accessible.
The Chenango County Board of Elections reports that in the coming Republican primaries, Sept. 15, and then in following general elections held Nov. 3, all polling stations in Chenango County will be outfitted with the new Dominion ImageCast optical-scan machines.
Republican Commissioner Harriet Jenkins explained that voters will be presented with paper ballots indicating the candidates in the election. Voters will mark the paper ballot themselves with a pen and then put it into the ImageCast machine, which will record and tally the marked votes.
The machines are capable of examining the ballot and locating inconsistencies, such as accidental double votes in the same category. The machine alerts the ballot’s caster to an “over vote” error and asks if they wish to proceed or if they wish to correct the issue.
The machines are also capable of detecting a “no vote” to any corresponding positions left blank. However, the New York State Board of Elections decided earlier this week not to activate the “no vote” alert.
The state board did not return comment by press time.
Jenkins explained that many Chenango County citizens often leave several position blank and prefer only to vote for specific offices exclusively, ignoring the rest of the ballot.
Jenkins also said some people have conveyed apprehension about the new system and are concerned the technology changes may complicate issues with voters.
“It’s actually a lot easier than people have perceived it to be,” she said.
Democratic Commissioner Carol A. Franklin agreed. “You just mark the paper ballot and put it into the machine. That’s it,” she said.
Election officials at the polling sites will be on hand to aid voters if there are any questions and back-up machines are also available in case there are any technical problems, explained Franklin.
The machines are also considered to be 100 percent accessible to persons with disabilities, something the former lever machines could not boast, said Jenkins.
“Any voter, no matter what needs, has to have the capability of getting to the voting place and able to vote unassisted,” she said.
The ImageCast machines instantly counts all the votes submitted to them and a paper receipt is created within the machine to validate the results in conjunction with the cast ballots being stored inside the device.
The board of elections is required to physically hand count at least 3 percent of the cast ballots, but often those results are reported in the days after the election, said Jenkins.
The machine was on hand at the Chenango County Fair recently and more than 200 people cast ballots in a mock vote for the most popular entertainment figures. The commissioners reported that there were no issues with the machine and that nearly all the participants found the system easy to use.
The commissioners acknowledged that acquiring the machines was not free of controversy. In fact, they said New York State was the last state to start using the federally mandated machines and that it only adopted a transitional measure to implement them in order to satisfy a lawsuit filed against it by the national government over the Helping America Vote Act (HAVA).
“The older lever style machines we’ve been using have effectively been outlawed by the federal government,” said Jenkins.
Jenkins said that in order to satisfy the lawsuit, the state agreed to a “trial run,” pilot program for the September and November elections which left the option to use the machines up to the state’s counties.
She said that after the trial period the state board would then compel all counties to begin using the machines exclusively by 2010.
The Chenango County Board of Election decided to purchase enough machines to cover all of the upcoming elections.
“The advantage of switching now is that everyone will be exposed to the machines that will eventually be used anyway. Plus you don’t want two different kinds of machines being used in the same election. It invites confusion,” she said.
The cost of 37 electronic machines was $12,500 each. More than 95 percent of the cost, $376,000, came from a federal grant and the remaining $19,800 came from the local board of elections, said Jenkins. The untested life span of the machines is estimated to be about five to 10 years, she added.
In contrast, the older, 800 pound lever machines now being set aside cost roughly $2,500 to refurbish and the oldest of the group still in operation was purchased in 1934. Franklin said the machines still functioned and warned local town and village governments from scrapping them too soon.
“This is where we are now, but you never know what might happen. I would hold on to them for a little while and wait and see,” she said.
While the initial cost of purchasing the new machines was mostly burdened by the federal government’s grant, the cost of maintenance and replacement will fall to the responsibility of the county election boards said Jenkins.
“From this point forward the expenses are ours,” she said.