DiNapoli: New voting machine glitches throughout NY

ALBANY - New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported Thursday that there were problems with new voting machines in most counties during last month's primary elections.

Issues in 44 of the 57 counties outside New York City ranged from compromised privacy to malfunctions and delays. The information came from county election boards. A separate report is planned on the Sept. 14 primary voting in the city.

The machines, which replaced an 80-year-old mechanical lever system, resemble ATMs and optically read paper ballots that voters feed in after marking them by pen.

"No one should worry that their privacy will be compromised while voting or that their vote won't count because of technical difficulties," DiNapoli said.

Privacy problems in 20 counties included failure to use privacy sleeves, leaving ballots in view of poll workers, and workers standing too close as voters filled out ballots.

Ballot layouts or small print caused voter confusion in 15 counties, while 21 reported machines that malfunctioned. Those included machines that had to be changed or repaired and paper jams.

Another 11 counties said poll workers had trouble opening or closing machines, which delayed opening stations and reporting results.