Politics on the Hudson

The combination of a new voting machine system and “tiny and often illegible print” on ballots could cause “massive voter confusion and disenfranchisement” in next Tuesday’s primary, said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, and one of five Democrats in a primary for attorney general. This is the first year all voters will have to use a paper-ballot and scanning system, rather than lever machines. People with disabilities and other voters can use ballot-marking devices instead of filling out ballots by hand.

The 11-by-17-inch paper ballots are a lot smaller than those that were used in lever machines, which could be as large as 36-by-20 inches, Brodsky said.

“The primary on September 14th will be the first systematic use of new electronic voting machines, and as I have traveled the state, I have observed a systematic failure to prepare voters, most notably in New York City, for the radical change that will occur that day,” he said in a statement.

Brodsky has sent letters to the state and New York City boards of elections and the U.S. Department of Justice, asking them to address the problems. He is asking the Department of Justice to assign observers to jurisdictions within the state that are subject to the federal Voting Rights Act, including the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Other potential issues include a lack of adequate staffing at polling places, not having enough interpreters to assist non-English-speaking voters, and the possibility that people will “over-vote.”

Lever machines don’t allow voters to select too many candidates, but the same is not true for the new paper-ballot and scanner system. Scanners alert voters that they have over-voted, but some fear that people might be confused by the use of the term over-vote and will have their ballot counted as is, rather than fill out a new one correctly. That means their votes in the election in which they selected too many candidates will not count.

“The right to vote is at the heart of American democracy.  However well intentioned, the transition to computerized voting, recent budget cuts, technical issues and other errors of policy and judgment are likely to cause significant voter disenfranchisement.  We have one week to fix these problems.  Magnifying sheets and good intentions are not enough. We need to begin today,” Brodsky said.