Rockland Shows Off New Voting Machines

When voters in New City and the rest of Rockland County go to the polls this fall, they'll see brand new electronic voting machines that have replaced the aging lever-pull machines associated with election-night malfunctions.

The Rockland County Board of Elections has started showing off the machines in the community, and today began training its election inspectors on using the new ES&S intElect DS200 voting machines. Members of the Rockland County Legislature got a chance to see the machines in action during a demonstration at the Allison-Parris County Office Building in New City Tuesday night.

"We've been using old outdated machines for many years and look forward to good voting experiences for our residents," said Legislature Chairwoman Harriett Cornell, D-West Nyack.

The new machines are optical scanners. The machines long in use in Rockland are mechanical, lever-pull devices that record votes on a giant paper print out in the back of the machine.  The intElect DS200 offers a voting process that allows both computerized tallying of votes and gives voters up to three chances to cast their ballot - in case they make a mistake. The machines also offer improved access for the handicapped and an audio feed for visually impaired voters.

New York, like the rest of the nation, has been looking to improve its voting machine technology since the 2000 elections, when problems with voting machine tallies in Florida held up the final outcome of the race between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

 "After the 2000 elections there was concern on how the elections were ran in this country," said Board of Elections Commissioner Joan Sylvestri. "The federal government looked at the voting process in each state and decided they wanted a more uniform processes."

The new machines let voters sign in and then fill out a ballot, which is then inserted into the machine to be scanned. The new voting machines tell voters if there is a problem with their ballot, such as having voted for too many candidates.

Elections Commissioner Anne Marie Kelly said voters can choose to let the vote stand, or submit a corrected vote. In the case of selecting too many candidates, the vote tallying system would discard the vote for that line.

Kelly said that the new voting machines are set to be used in all 101 Rockland County polling places, starting with the Sept. 14 primary elections.

"Eventually I think they are going to be extremely efficient and increase the validity of the voting process," said Legislator William Darden. "Initially there are going to be glitches."

Deputy Minority Leader Edwin J. Day said the Board of Elections has chosen equipment that has proven to be reliable and cost-effective.

"We didn't waste money and as a legislator, I take pride in saying that,"  Day said.

The Board of Elections plans on hosting a number of tutorials on the new equipment throughout out the county at public libraries, town halls and senior centers over the months leading up to the fall elections. Rocklanders can also check out the new voting machines at the Board of Elections offices in the county office building in New City, where there is one set up for the public to examine.