MNeagle
14th September 2010, 07:53 PM
Machines' Debut Is a 'Royal Screw-Up'
The new electronic voting machines that made their debut Tuesday in New York City caused widespread problems—from malfunctioning devices to delayed poll openings to rampant voter confusion—prompting Mayor Michael Bloomberg to declare the effort as a "royal screw-up."
The mayor said City Hall received reports of broken and missing scanners, poor customer service and poll sites opening two to four hours late. While other counties across the state experienced similar problems, Mr. Bloomberg suggested the incidents were most severe within the five boroughs.
"It's completely unacceptable," said Mr. Bloomberg, referring to the Board of Elections. "There is a total absence of accountability for how the board performed on Election Day—because the board is a remnant of the days when Tammany Hall ran New York."
"New Yorkers deserve better than this," he said. "And the time has come to fix it."
Voters headed to the polls Tuesday to select the GOP nominee for governor, nominees for U.S. Senate, Congress and every elected office in New York state government.
While turnout appeared to be low—as it often is for primary elections—the voters who did make it to the polls voiced anger, frustration and disbelief as a series of problems with the new machines caused long delays and left many New Yorkers dubious as to whether their ballots would be counted.
"It was horrendous," said Cara Judovits, 47 years old, as she left a polling site on West 97th Street. "There are about 35 people on line standing there in a boiling, disgusting gym, and I have to leave, so I will not be able to vote now."
Problems at the West 97th Street polling site began early in the morning when officials were locked out of the building and couldn't process voters until nearly an hour after the scheduled 6 a.m. start time. Only two scanners were sent to the site, and officials said they had expected many more at the typically busy location.
By midmorning, both scanners at the West 97th Street polling site were broken.
"It's a total mess in there," said Anne Koenig, who spent 40 minutes inside the polling site and ended up submitting an emergency ballot. "I think there are going to be people who are going to lose their votes."
Ms. Koenig said ballots were being crammed into the emergency-voting box, making her wonder whether the scrunched paper could ultimately be scanned. "It's like putting something into a trash can that's overfull," she said.
Electronic voting machines are a departure for New York City. The old voting machines with big red levers were put out to pasture after playing a part in the city's civic life for nearly 50 years. Under the new system, reminiscent of college entrance tests, voters receive paper ballots and use pens to fill in ovals that mark their choices. Voters are then supposed to feed their ballots into a scanner that records their votes.
Valerie Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the Board of Elections, confirmed reports that poll sites were not opened on time because scanners were late in arriving. There are 1,358 poll sites in the city for Tuesday's primary.
"We have staff in every borough working to address issues that arise at poll sites throughout the day," she said. "As you know, every year, Election Days bring challenges. This year, the Board of Elections in the City of New York knew the change to the new voting system would present additional challenges."
She added: "We will apply all lessons learned from today's primary election to November's general election."
Among the many voters who experienced delays was New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer. His polling site in Brooklyn didn't open on time, forcing Mr. Schumer and other voters to wait about 15 minutes. Even after the precinct opened, it took another 10 minutes for site workers to get the scanning machines up and running.
Mr. Schumer managed to cast his vote and catch a plane to Washington for meetings with fellow lawmakers.
Voters complained about the small type size on the paper ballots and the lack of privacy at the polling sites.
Margaret Thompson, a 90-year-old riding in a motorized scooter, was exasperated when she left her Bronx polling place.
"That is wrong what they got in there," she said. "I'm telling you—you could hardly find their names." Ms. Thompson said she used the magnifying device provided to find names, but it didn't work well. Ms. Thompson said she's been voting for Democrats since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"By George, that was better than this," she said. "If they're going to do that in November, you can count me out."
Voters were turned away at a polling place on Greene Avenue in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because of problems with the new machines.
There, just before 9:30 a.m. the first voter, an election site inspector, filled out the first ballot. But when the voters tried feeding their completed ballots into the scanner, they wouldn't fit—the paper was too large for the machine.
"I'm disgusted," said election board inspector Lucius Lindsey, who said he made numerous calls to the Board of Elections to complain about the machines and the lack of an on-site coordinator, with no response. "It discourages the voters."
Danielle Lee, 41, said she "would be concerned about the validity" of results from the West 97th Street polling site "just because so many people left unable to cast their ballots in a timely manner."
Joseph Lawrence, a polling coordinator there, declared it a "disaster" when both scanning machines broke. "We've had to go to the emergency ballot process, which means we'll have to count the votes at the end of the night right here."
He added: "If you'd like to help, you're more than welcome."
wsj (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492352251340856.html?m od=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth)
The new electronic voting machines that made their debut Tuesday in New York City caused widespread problems—from malfunctioning devices to delayed poll openings to rampant voter confusion—prompting Mayor Michael Bloomberg to declare the effort as a "royal screw-up."
The mayor said City Hall received reports of broken and missing scanners, poor customer service and poll sites opening two to four hours late. While other counties across the state experienced similar problems, Mr. Bloomberg suggested the incidents were most severe within the five boroughs.
"It's completely unacceptable," said Mr. Bloomberg, referring to the Board of Elections. "There is a total absence of accountability for how the board performed on Election Day—because the board is a remnant of the days when Tammany Hall ran New York."
"New Yorkers deserve better than this," he said. "And the time has come to fix it."
Voters headed to the polls Tuesday to select the GOP nominee for governor, nominees for U.S. Senate, Congress and every elected office in New York state government.
While turnout appeared to be low—as it often is for primary elections—the voters who did make it to the polls voiced anger, frustration and disbelief as a series of problems with the new machines caused long delays and left many New Yorkers dubious as to whether their ballots would be counted.
"It was horrendous," said Cara Judovits, 47 years old, as she left a polling site on West 97th Street. "There are about 35 people on line standing there in a boiling, disgusting gym, and I have to leave, so I will not be able to vote now."
Problems at the West 97th Street polling site began early in the morning when officials were locked out of the building and couldn't process voters until nearly an hour after the scheduled 6 a.m. start time. Only two scanners were sent to the site, and officials said they had expected many more at the typically busy location.
By midmorning, both scanners at the West 97th Street polling site were broken.
"It's a total mess in there," said Anne Koenig, who spent 40 minutes inside the polling site and ended up submitting an emergency ballot. "I think there are going to be people who are going to lose their votes."
Ms. Koenig said ballots were being crammed into the emergency-voting box, making her wonder whether the scrunched paper could ultimately be scanned. "It's like putting something into a trash can that's overfull," she said.
Electronic voting machines are a departure for New York City. The old voting machines with big red levers were put out to pasture after playing a part in the city's civic life for nearly 50 years. Under the new system, reminiscent of college entrance tests, voters receive paper ballots and use pens to fill in ovals that mark their choices. Voters are then supposed to feed their ballots into a scanner that records their votes.
Valerie Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the Board of Elections, confirmed reports that poll sites were not opened on time because scanners were late in arriving. There are 1,358 poll sites in the city for Tuesday's primary.
"We have staff in every borough working to address issues that arise at poll sites throughout the day," she said. "As you know, every year, Election Days bring challenges. This year, the Board of Elections in the City of New York knew the change to the new voting system would present additional challenges."
She added: "We will apply all lessons learned from today's primary election to November's general election."
Among the many voters who experienced delays was New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer. His polling site in Brooklyn didn't open on time, forcing Mr. Schumer and other voters to wait about 15 minutes. Even after the precinct opened, it took another 10 minutes for site workers to get the scanning machines up and running.
Mr. Schumer managed to cast his vote and catch a plane to Washington for meetings with fellow lawmakers.
Voters complained about the small type size on the paper ballots and the lack of privacy at the polling sites.
Margaret Thompson, a 90-year-old riding in a motorized scooter, was exasperated when she left her Bronx polling place.
"That is wrong what they got in there," she said. "I'm telling you—you could hardly find their names." Ms. Thompson said she used the magnifying device provided to find names, but it didn't work well. Ms. Thompson said she's been voting for Democrats since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"By George, that was better than this," she said. "If they're going to do that in November, you can count me out."
Voters were turned away at a polling place on Greene Avenue in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because of problems with the new machines.
There, just before 9:30 a.m. the first voter, an election site inspector, filled out the first ballot. But when the voters tried feeding their completed ballots into the scanner, they wouldn't fit—the paper was too large for the machine.
"I'm disgusted," said election board inspector Lucius Lindsey, who said he made numerous calls to the Board of Elections to complain about the machines and the lack of an on-site coordinator, with no response. "It discourages the voters."
Danielle Lee, 41, said she "would be concerned about the validity" of results from the West 97th Street polling site "just because so many people left unable to cast their ballots in a timely manner."
Joseph Lawrence, a polling coordinator there, declared it a "disaster" when both scanning machines broke. "We've had to go to the emergency ballot process, which means we'll have to count the votes at the end of the night right here."
He added: "If you'd like to help, you're more than welcome."
wsj (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492352251340856.html?m od=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth)