BOE Develops Interim HAVA Plan for Primaries

Proposal draws criticism from Independent Living Council

By KELLY SMITH

Gazette staff writer

April 17, 2006

ALBANY - The New York State Board of Elections submitted a plan last Monday to comply with a court order to make polling places more accessible to disabled voters. The plan, submitted to the US District County Judge Gary Sharpe of New York’s Northern District, is in response to a March 23 court order that the Board of Elections comply with sections 301 and 303(a) of the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA.

The plan calls for “counties to place devices in as many polling places as possible in time for training and use in the September 12, 2006 primary.”

Though there is no guarantee that every polling place will be accessible to disabled voters, the plan states that at least one such polling place will be available either in each town or city in a county, in each Assembly district in a county, in a central location in a county, or in “places intended to serve concentrations of disabled voters.”

Brad Williams, executive director of the New York State Independent Living Council, said the plan is much too vague and provides no guarantee that a sufficient number of disabled-accessible polling places will be available.

“There’s a lot of gaps,” he said, “…it just doesn’t provide the detail.”

Williams also said the plan is flawed at a very fundamental level.  “The plan itself, first of all, didn’t come with budget,” he said.  Even if it is just an interim plan, he said, it would still require a budget.

Citing numbers compiled by the American Association of People with Disabilities, Williams said 1.3 million disabled New Yorkers voted on Election Day 2000, while almost 2 million disabled residents of voting age did not.  He blamed that number on a lack of accessibility and said the Board of Elections needs to get serious about providing polling places for the disabled.

“The need to focus in on a specific plan and get the job done,” he said.

Lee Daghlian, director of public information for the Board of Elections, said the board is currently in the process of testing and selecting new “accessible ballot-marking devices” for disabled voters.

Daghlian said four companies – Elections Systems and Software, IVS Inc., Populex and Avante – have responded to the bidding process and submitted machines for testing.

According to the board’s plan, it will ask the state comptroller to issue an approval by May 17 of a contract to purchase or lease the ballot-marking devices that are chosen.

The board will also provide the United States with a list of ballot-marking devices that are chosen.

The board will also provide the United States with a list of ballot-marking devices it plans to use by no later than May 17.

Williams said he is looking forward to the US Department of Justice’s response to the plan, which it is expected to issue by April 20.

The Justice Department filed suit earlier this year in the US District Court in Albany against the state of New York for alleged HAVA violations.

The department’s complaint said New York had failed to comply with two HAVA requirements, including the establishment of a statewide computerized voter registration database.  Under the terms of HAVA, the state was to also adopt the voting systems fully accessible by disabled voters.

New York has received $220 million from the federal government to help the state comply with HAVA requirements, including $49 million to help replace lever voting machines.  In addition, Gov. George E. Pataki appropriated $7.7 million, or 5 percent of the federal allotment, last year for HAVA compliance.

Congress passed HAVA in 2002 to establish standards for states and local governments for administering federal elections.  The legislation provides funds to states for the replacement of outdated punchy card and lever voting systems and established the Election Assistance Commission to provide assistance to states in administering federal elections.