New voting machines tell voters if they've left their ballot blank, then ask whether to cast the ballot or give it back to the voter.By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Going green is usually encouraged. However, in the case of new electronic voting machines, pushing the green button may result in your vote getting thrown out.
Questions about the confusing nature of New York's new voting machines are at the heart of a lawsuit filed Monday.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, which filed the lawsuit about the new machines, says the new machines could confuse voters and thousands of ballots could be thrown out as a result.
That’s where the green button issue comes in. If a voter accidentally “over-votes” — meaning to mark more than one candidate for a particular office — the new machines give voters the option to press green to cast their vote, or red to get their ballot back.
However, the machine doesn’t explain that over-votes aren’t counted, so if you press green, your vote will be tossed, Brennan Center lawyers say.
They say the confusing choices could be fixed easily if the voting machines were reprogrammed.
In the meantime, voting rights advocates are educating people to go against their natural inclination and choose red if they over-vote, said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, which co-hosted Monday’s demonstration of the new machines with Westsiders for Public Participation.
Lisa Pressley, a Board of Elections representative, shows voter Albertha Williams how to use one of the city's new voting machines. Some advocates say the machines could confuse voters and leave some votes uncounted. (DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht)“Our advice to you is, always press the red button and get your ballot back,” Lerner told an audience Monday.
Paul S. Bunten, board president of Westsiders for Public Participation, said he's worried about another aspect of the over-voting issue.
Bunten said he saw an instance where someone who over-voted walked away from the machine instead of choosing between the red and green buttons.
When the next voter walked up, Bunten said, the red and green buttons were still on the screen, which meant the new voter could choose whether to cast or throw away the last voter’s ballot.
Bryan Cooper, an elections worker at the demonstration, said if that were to happen on election day, a poll worker would notice and take care of the problem.
New York voters will use the new optical scanner voting machines for the first time in the Sept. 14 primary.
Some said Monday night the machines will also leave elections open to fraud and tampering.
The new machines replace the lever machines New Yorkers have used since the 1960s. The city is making the switch to comply with a federal mandate.
With the new machines, voters will mark paper ballots then feed them into a scanner that will read their votes instead of pulling a lever in a curtained voting booth.
Some argued that the new system could spell doom for democracy.
“This is opening up a Pandora’s box,” said Cristopher Rodriguez, Queens County coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty, a Libertarian group. “This opens up the door to an easier way to manipulate votes.”
Rodriguez said electronic voting machines are vulnerable to computer hackers and viruses. Elections officials disputed that idea.
Some residents at Monday’s demonstration said they weren’t worried about the new machines. Cristina Lipka, 60, of W. 97th Street and Central Park West, said she intentionally left her ballot blank and the machine caught the error.
She shrugged off fears about the new voting technology. “I think it’s just paranoia,” Lipka said. “People get nervous about using something new.”
concerned voter | June 29, 2010