ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported Thursday that there were problems with new voting machines in most counties during last month’s primary elections. Issues in 44 of the 57 counties outside New York City ranged from compromised privacy to malfunctions and delays. The information came from county election boards. A separate report is planned on the Sept....
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported Thursday that there were problems with new voting machines in most counties during last month’s primary elections.
Issues in 44 of the 57 counties outside New York City ranged from compromised privacy to malfunctions and delays. The information came from county election boards. A separate report is planned on the Sept. 14 primary voting in the city.
The machines, which replaced an 80-year-old mechanical lever system, resemble ATMs and optically read paper ballots that voters feed in after marking them by pen. “No one should worry that their privacy will be compromised while voting or that their vote won’t count because of technical difficulties,” DiNapoli said.
Privacy problems in 20 counties included failure to use privacy sleeves, leaving ballots in view of poll workers, and workers standing too close as voters filled out ballots.
Ballot layouts or small print caused voter confusion in 15 counties, while 21 reported machines that malfunctioned. Those included machines that had to be changed or repaired and paper jams.
Another 11 counties said poll workers had trouble opening or closing machines, which delayed opening stations and reporting results.
Albany County noted 23 problems altogether, while Washington County had 12, and both Erie and Steuben counties reported 11.
The report recommended ensuring poll workers consistently use privacy screens and sleeves for voters and consider using curtains, requiring polling stations to prominently display large-print sample ballots and step-by-step voting instructions, and ensuring that workers are trained, machines work and backups are available. The general election is Nov. 2.
In New York City, the Board of Elections has acknowledged about 6 percent of polling sites did not open on time for the primaries and thousands of poll workers had not been trained to operate new voting machines that debuted that day.
The new voting system — the result of changes demanded after the contentious recount of the 2000 presidential election and its hanging chads — was making its statewide debut after testing new machines in 47 counties last year.
New York has been years behind federal deadlines to conform with the Help America Vote Act and was supposed to replace all pull-lever machines by the fall of 2009.