After protracted negotiations over how to best to modernize New York's voting booths, a key legislative committee is poised to let counties chose on their own.
The pending deal between negotiators for the state Senate and Assembly is designed to help bring New York into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act in time for the November 2006 elections. A stumbling block has been whether to replace old voting machines with ATM-style, touch-screen machines or optical scan technology that allows machines to "read" marks made on a paper ballot.
Keith Wright, a Manhattan Democrat and chairman of the Assembly Election Law Committee, said Monday that despite months of talks, the two houses have been unable to agree on a single system. Instead, negotiators are working on a deal that would give individual counties the authority to choose a system.
Long Island Republican John Flanagan, chairman of the Senate's Elections Committee, said though voters in different counties would be able to vote on different types of machines, the machines would still have to meet HAVA standards.
Note from Catskill Center for Independence: County board of elections will be able to purchase only machines approved for purchase or those meeting approved specifications. ATM-style machines and many touch screen machines will not be able to be purchased because they do not meet New York State's full face ballot requirement.