NY: An election the voters lost (no lever machines)

[Bill Bored]

An election the voters lost
Published: 12:00 a.m., Sunday, September 19, 2010

The days after an election inevitably bring dissections of the results down to the more minute level. This year, though, to the perennial question of who were the big losers, we can safely say that we all are were.

The primary elections across New York were a referendum on the state's new voting machines -- electronic scanners, paper ballots and all. Too often, they didn't work properly.

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Let's start close to home, in Albany County.

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Almost 8 percent of the voters in that election cast their ballots for what were counted as write-ins.

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Turns out that there was a write-in bubble beneath the name of every candidate on the primary ballot, which appears to have prompted some voters to fill in that oval instead of the correct one.

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That means their votes were wasted -- in the first election in Albany County held to conform to what's known, ironically in this case, as the Help America Vote Act.

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Too many New Yorkers already have found ample reasons not to vote, starting with the politicians who forever disappoint them. There's no reason, though, why poorly designed ballots should further discourage them from casting votes that actually count.

http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/An-election-the-voters-lost-664779.php

[aquart]

1. No reason?

Go to the polls and HOPE your vote will be recorded?

THANKS, NEW YORK!

How much did it cost? To abandon the system that worked?

[Bill Bored]

3. How much did it cost? To abandon the system that worked?

Fifty million dollars in federal money plus the ongoing recurring costs of maintenance, ballot printing, auditing, security, climate controlled storage, etc., which will be much higher. (And there really should be much more auditing than New York will do!)

[Bill Bored]

5. BTW, the counties and NYC have to pay the annual expenses of the new system.

So when you see bus service being cut and firehouses, schools and senior centers and being closed, part of the reason is to pay for the new voting system.

The NYC Board of Elections has said they need millions more to run the new system just to keep voters from being disenfranchised by it, and they're not even talking about auditing enough of the paper ballots to catch things like vote switching or deleted votes.

[Wilms]

2. As the rest of the nation goes, so goes New York.

[EFerrari]

4. K&R

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Reliable, accurate voting --

and vote counting is something we may never see again unless we demand better from our officials. The odds are already stacked against up with all the political manipulations/dirty tricks/campaign cash -- if we can't cast a vote and believe it recorded/tabulated correctly we might as well just throw in the fucking towel for good.

Andy, Andy, Andy, how we miss you on this issue. :cry:

[EFerrari]

7. Thanks, HHNF. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. kick

[Judi Lynn]

9. Finding ways to nullify votes is a vast frontier for politically ambitious people.

So "...0.4 percent of votes cast in Tuesday's primary elections were counted as write-ins."

"Help America Vote!" Unbelievable.

Thank you. Recommending.

[Peace Patriot]

10. "...ironically...," indeed!

"That means their votes were wasted -- in the first election in Albany County held to conform to what's known, ironically in this case, as the Help America Vote Act."

Until we rid ourselves of these diabolical, corporate-run, privatatized, 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, we do not really have a democracy!

We need a REAL 'Boston Tea Party'!

:patriot: