Provides for the implementation of paper ballot only technology including optical scanners and accessible ballot marking devices; repealer

The voting machines are precinct-based optical scanners, to be used in conjunction with precinct-based paper ballots, and a ballot marking device for the disabled.

Under this bill, the State Board of Elections is authorized to contract for voting machines and provide them to counties.

This bill defines the voting methods to be utilized throughout New York State as: paper ballot, precinct-based optical scanner, and ballot-marking device for the disabled. Privacy screens are also required to ensure voting secrecy. No other voting machinery, such as DREs or punch cards, is allowed.

Pursuant to this legislation, paper ballots are the ballot of record. These records will be retained by the voting machine.

Justification

This legislation is designed to comply with the Help America Vote Act, to provide for a secure, accessible, verifiable, transparent, and economical voting system which will be chosen through a competitive, open process. Under this bill, such system will ensure voting is accessible to all voters and protected by safeguards against vote tampering or fraud.

The system is easy for voters to understand and provides an auditable paper trail necessary for accurate recounts whenever required.

The advantages include the following: all voters including the disabled use an identical paper ballot, optical scan ballots are easily understood by voters, optical scan ballots allow each voter to vote only once, precinct-based optical scanners allow voters to correct mistakes, optical scan systems have lower rates of invalid votes, optical scan ballots are inherently vote-verified, optical scanners provide over-vote and under-vote protection, optical scan ballots are easy to recount by hand, and optical scan ballots allow voters to verify that they have been given the correct ballot before they start to vote.

The paper ballot with precinct-based optical scanner system is cost efficient because of lower equipment and election worker training costs than other voting systems.

The experience with electronic voting or DREs (direct electronic devices) including touch screen and ATM-like equipment has been problematic and, in some states, disastrous. Electronic voting errors in various counties in California, Hawaii, Ohio, Georgia, and Florida have been documented by studies and election year results. Several states have decided against electronic voting because of inherent problems such as voting errors in under- and over-votes, voter confusion, election worker confusion, and lack of an auditable paper trail.

While lever machines are still in use throughout New York State and there have been few, if any, problems encountered with lever machine use, new lever machines are not being manufactured. Lever machine voting poses problems for the disabled voters who prefer to vote in a manner as similar to the general voting public as possible. The paper ballot, precinct-based optical scanner, and ballot-marking device system provide the disabled voter with the means to vote in a manner identical to the general voting public.

Prior legislative history

2007-2008: S.1648 Referred to Election Law

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None, since costs are similar to those borne now by municipalities.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.