WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2008. By John F. Bailey. July 28, 2008: The new voting machines the county has had delivered (only 10% have arrived to date), which feature optical scanning will only be available for the disabled in the primary and general elections coming up this fall. The rest of voters will vote the old-fashioned way – pulling a lever.

Weschester County Commissioner of the Board of Elections Reginald Lafayette confirmed this to WPCNR today, and said the new machines when phased in across the county in 2009, would have voters using paper ballots. The new machines have headphone aids, magnifying glass for reading the paper ballot, and the paper ballot is fed into the machine and scanned. 

Lafayette confirmed to WPCNR the county new machines require all voters to mark a paper ballot. understand to the machines that will be used in Florida for the national election. Sequoia, the company that manufactured the Westchester County machines did not return WPCNR calls for explanations of how voters would use the new county machines and which machine the county actually ordered.  Mr. Lafayettee told WPCNR, the Westchester machines were being tested two weeks ago when WPCNR asked for a demonstration.

However, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal, the machines are paper ballot-driven with scanners counting the votes. They will be in use in the 2009 White Plains mayoral election, according to Mr. Lafayette. The Poughkeepsie Journal also reported today that Sequoia is having problems delivering all the machines it owes to New York State, citing lags in deliveries in Nassau County, For the Poughkeepsie Journal report  detailing the machine shortage around New York, go to www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/NEWS01/807

Reality in Palm Beach County

 The Sequoia voting machines use a paper ballot that is fed into the machine and recorded were tried out in Palm Beach County, Florida, last month to less than stellar reviews. Though the Palm Beach County Election Commissioner pronounced them a success, reporters in Palm Beach County noted long lines and confusing ballots as two of the drawbacks.

For a reporter's analysis of the Palm Beach County optical scanner voting machines, go to http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/opinion/epaper/2008/06/27/a14a_cramercol_0627.html

Next year, White Plains will use the machines in a citywide election for the first time. Some questions come to mind.

Will each person have a numbered ballot – enabling election officials to see how they voted? (Eliminating the secrecy of the ballot)

Will paper ballots be checked against scanners – to verify the count? This raises the possibility of the ballots being examined to see if John Bailey’s vote was really counted correctly by the scanner? How will counts be verified?

How will the paper ballot be designed? (The Florida ballots use a series of arrows on their paper ballots which voters found very confusing.)

The voting in Palm Beach County took longer than expected because citizens had to take more time marking their ballots. Will this make voting in Westchester slower, and slow results?

Will the paper ballots be marked in secret, as the traditional voting machine allows?

Will the ballots be available for political analysis – or voter identification be kept anonymous?

Asked if the Board of Elections would hold a news conference to demonstrate how you vote with the new machines and procedures, Commissioner Lafayette told WPCNR this might be a good idea.