WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By District 89 Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. August 16, 2003: Florida’s dysfunctional voting system took center stage during the November 2000 presidential elections and ultimately led to a new federal law to overhaul the nation’s voting standards. Like other states, New York is in the process of reforming the way its citizens vote. Our election system relies on antiquated procedures and equipment. In fact, the two companies that manufactured the machines we’ve used for the last 60 years have stopped making them and now even replacement parts are scarce.
It’s time we streamline the voting process and restore voters’ confidence in the system. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) gives New York that opportunity by providing federal aid to modernize the election process. Unfortunately, the state Task Force responsible for bringing this reform drafted a short-sighted plan that leaves our state unprepared for this important restructuring.
Voting machine standards
The Task Force’s plan vaguely states that New York will undertake a statewide effort to replace lever voting machines currently used in all counties. But the plan offers no further detail of the machine selection process, how they will be phased in by January 1, 2006, or whether or not the new machines will be uniform statewide. The plan alludes to accommodating the needs of the disabled community, but falls short of ensuring statewide compliance and accessibility. I firmly believe that voting machines must be uniform statewide and that there must be accessibility for the disabled. The task force’s plan must address these issues.
The plan also needs to address how poll workers and voters will be educated on using the new machines. After all, the first time many voters are going to see them will be during the next presidential election and that could be disastrous if voters don’t know what to expect. The plan’s ambiguity in machine selection and poll training denies the public its opportunity and right to provide meaningful input addressing these issues.
Implementing a statewide voter registration list
The plan fails to describe how the centralized registered voter list will become available to county election officials. Other than the Department of Motor Vehicles, the plan does not list any databases that will be used to lessen the need for voter identification at the polls.
This plan misses the opportunity to include detail on how these databases will be selected and how agreements for access can be reached. Again, by not including this in the draft the public can not fully judge if it achieves its goal.
Developing a comprehensive statewide training program
The Task Force’s plan needs to provide further information about how the voter outreach and education campaign will be implemented. There is no detail on how it will be developed, what the costs will be, or how the information will be distributed to the public. This campaign should be developed with the help of community organizations, state associations, election officials and literacy experts.
The Assembly addressed some of these problems by approving a package of legislation that ensures New York’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act. The package would:
· consolidate election operations at the county level to ensure elections are run consistently, and polling places are adequately staffed with well-trained workers (A.8833);
· create a computerized, centralized, interactive statewide voter registration list with proper privacy protections easing confusion at the polls, ensuring that voters get in and out of the polls quickly, and helping crackdown on voter fraud (A.8842);
· ban punch card ballots and encourage counties to adopt a single type of electronic voting machine that will be accessible to all citizens – including persons with disabilities and voters with limited English proficiency – and easily audited in order to assure voter confidence (A.8847);
· provide instructions for paper ballots to avoid over-votes and ensure voters are aware of their right to a replacement ballot (A.8831); and
· require a posting at each poll site of information relating to voting, the ballot and voter rights (A.8840).
We want a system that works for the voters. It’s time we end the confusion at polling places, increase voter turnout and empower all New Yorkers to participate in the process.
Elections are the lifeblood of our democracy, but they are meaningless without public trust. HAVA offers New York state the opportunity to increase voter participation and modernize the voting process. It’s the Task Force’s responsibility to provide the specific detail needed to bring 21st century technology to the public and ensure the integrity of our elections.