Election boards order magnifying glasses for voters

Print on the new paper ballots is so small that Long Island election officials are buying magnifying glasses for voters' use. Suffolk's election board spent $8,450 for 6,000 of the aids - enough for each booth where voters mark the ballots. "We got a lot of complaints from seniors that they were hard to read," on primary day, Wayne Rogers, the GOP nominee for elections commissioner, said at his legislative confirmation hearing last week. Federal funds will cover the cost, Suffolk officials say. Nassau ordered 4,000 magnifying glasses, said county Democratic election commissioner William Biamonte. He found the ballot hard to read, too, but said, "I brought my reading glasses." - Rick Brand