NY: New Ballot Machines Are Flawed, (Yet Another!) Suit Says

[Wilms]

New Ballot Machines Are Flawed, Suit Says

By JACK HEALY

June 27, 2010

snip

The problem, according to the legal complaint, revolves around voters who accidentally pick too many candidates for a particular race — an error known as “overvoting,” which invalidates the incorrect part of their ballot.

When a voter submits such a ballot, the new machines do not automatically return it to be corrected and recast. Instead, the machines that scan the new SAT-style ballots are programmed to start beeping and to offer a choice on their digital touch-screens: a green button for voters to confirm their choices and cast their ballot, or a red button to scrap their votes and start over.

Lawrence D. Norden, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, which is representing the New York State conference of the N.A.A.C.P., the Working Families Party and other groups in the lawsuit, said that the setup was poorly worded and confusing, and that the design of the new machines could prompt thousands of voters to press the green button accidentally, casting parts of their ballots into oblivion.

snip

The old lever-operated machines prevented overvoting by locking themselves up if a voter flipped too many switches for various candidates. But Douglas Kellner, co-chairman of the New York State Board of Elections, called the conflict “a very minor issue” and said the new voting machines had taken a trial run in some upstate counties in elections last year with no major problems.

Rather than reprogram thousands of voting machines a few months before the primaries in September, Mr. Kellner said the board had agreed to assess how the system performed after the elections in November, in which New Yorkers will select a governor and vote on both Senate seats, among other races.

snip

“We have a completely new system,” Mr. Kellner said. “That’s why the consensus is, don’t do an emergency fix of this one little minor point right now.” :eyes:

snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/nyregion/28vote.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. no way NY would let all those good lawyers go to waste

it would be a shame!

[Wilms]

2. I think there's even a maritime law firm involved in one of the cases.

Ya know, ship has sailed and all. :evilgrin:

:rofl:

[Bill Bored]

3. Well, here's one solution to this problem that would make ALMOST everyone happy:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x515687

[aquart]

4. Satan's machines need a drink of water.

Hudson has some.