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Staten Island Advance

Advocacy groups fault touch-screen vote machines

Organizations say devices under consideration by the city would produce a high percentage of lost ballots

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

By HEIDI J. SHRAGER

The ATM-style, touch-screen voting machines being considered by the city Board of Elections to replace the 44-year-old lever machines would lead to a dangerously high percentage of lost votes, warned three advocacy groups on the steps of City Hall yesterday.

The new high-tech system -- Direct Recording Electronic machines, or DREs -- is one of two technologies now being certified by the state Board of Elections.

The second, which has the endorsement of the groups speaking yesterday, is the so-called paper ballot optical scanner machine, whereby voters fill in circles on a paper ballot and then feed the ballots into the machine.

New York is the last state to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, which required every state to modernize its voting equipment.

The upside of Albany's tardiness, however, is that officials have been able to learn from snafus in the new technology that emerged around the country during this year's election season.

The 10 commissioners on the Elections Board are expected to vote their decision by March, in hopes that the new technology will be in place for the primary next September, when seats for some judges and district attorneys come open.

"New York City cannot ensure that voters' choices will be accurately recorded if it decides to use the touch-screen machines that it is currently considering," said Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center of Justice at NYU School of Law.

Critics' chief concern with the DREs lies in the fact that New York, unlike all other states that have gone with the touch screens, would use the so-called full-face version -- which presents all election contests and all candidates on a single, giant screen -- rather than scrolling screens that present one race at a time.

Data compiled by the Brennan Center of Justice at NYU School of Law showed that of votes cast in more than 2,000 counties across the nation in 2004, 1.2 percent were uncounted when full-face DREs were used. That's nearly twice the 0.7 percent of lost votes resulting from the paper ballot optical scanner machines.

The disparity was considerably more striking for races that appear toward the bottom of the screen, such as statewide ballot initiatives. Of these votes, 15.4 percent were lost with touch-screens, compared to 8.8 percent with optical scanners.

"In a big turnout year, this difference could mean the loss of approximately 175,000 votes in New York City alone," said Norden of the Brennan Center.

Norden was joined by advocates from the New York League of Women Voters and the New York Public Interest Research Group

Critics say the touch screens are too expensive: They cost up to $9,000 per machine, compared to about $6,000 for an optical scanner machine.

The single screens are also overwhelming and confusing, they charge.

And without a paper trail, recounts are rendered less reliable if the machines fail.

Heidi J. Shrager covers City Hall for the Advance. She may be reached at shrager@siadvance.com.