http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--votingmachines0310mar10,0,3474752.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer
March 10, 2006, 10:34 AM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. -- State election officials, while still
battling the federal government in court, is going ahead with preparations to
buy machinery that will allow people with disabilities to vote this fall, a
Board of Elections spokesman said Friday.
Robert Brehm said the board has issued a request for bids,
the first step to purchasing about 10,000 devices that will allow the disabled
to cast ballots in the 2006 elections, a requirement under the Help America
Vote Act adopted after the disputed 2000 presidential election.
New York was sued March 1 by the U.S. Justice Department for
failing to comply with HAVA requirements. New York lags all other states in
meeting the HAVA requirements.
Under HAVA plans, New York is supposed to replace its 20,000
lever-action voting machines with modern devices. But state officials have said
they will have to use the lever-action machines again this year and won't have
new machines available in all parts of the state until the 2007 elections.
The federal lawsuit charges that New York has failed to
provide for disabled voting and to compile a centralized voter registration
database.
Under the current plan being pursued by the state, Brehm
said the idea is to have some sort of machinery in place to allow for
independent disabled voting in this year's state primary in September and for
the general election in November.
Brehm said the devices to allow disabled voting are
estimated to cost up to $5,000 per machine.
The state is due in federal court Tuesday in Albany on the
Justice Department lawsuit.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
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