OVERSIGHT OF SCHOOL VOTING SOUGHT

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau
May 12, 2007

A group of voting machine activists wants to take the regulation of
voting machines used in school board races out of the hands of the
state Education Department and put it under the purview of the state
Board of Elections.

"There's a giant loophole in education law that essentially allows a
board of education to choose any machine they want, regardless of
what the Board of Elections has or hasn't approved," said Bo Lipari ,
director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, a watchdog group that is
following the state's lengthy struggle to modernize voting machines.

The loophole, Lipari said, became apparent earlier this month when
the Troy school board decided to use voting machines supplied by
Liberty Election Systems for Tuesday's school board and budget vote.

Last year, one of the old lever action machines long used by the
district malfunctioned, and school board candidate Ilene Clinton
recorded only two votes in her home district. She lost the election
by 95 votes.

Wishing to avoid a replay of that problem, the Troy school board said
they would use the Dutch-made machines offered by Liberty this year.

They can be used under education law, which governs school board
races. But Lipari and others, such as the League of Women Voters,
noted that the machines haven't yet been certified by the state Board
of Elections.

Groups such as Verified Voting and the League of Women Voters are
working with Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, D-Queens, who heads the
Assembly's education committee, to introduce legislation that would
place school district machines under the control of state election
laws, rather than education law.

"Whenever there is a reference in education law to voting machines it
would say approved through the New York Board of Elections," said
Aimee Allaud , the League of Women Voters' election specialist.

The dispute comes as New York is struggling to comply with the
federal Help America Vote Act. Passed in the wake of the disputed
2000 presidential election, HAVA mandated that states modernize their
voting machines.

The Empire State already has been sued by the federal government for
its slowest-in-the- nation status to adopt the new machines, although
further action is being held off as the state continues to work
toward getting new machines in place.

Lobbying by voting machine makers has been intense, and Liberty
President Robert Witko has said that using his machines in school
district races is a way to get people used to the new devices.
Liberty provided voting machines for a school board race last year in
Salamanca , Cattaraugus County .

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at
rkarlin@timesunion. com.


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