Suffolk districts challenge election board's voting machine decision, raising worries over costs

Amid the Suffolk Board of Elections' plan to no longer provide voting machines for non-county races, school districts and villages are bracing to potentially face thousands of dollars in new expenses, according to school and village officials.

Leaders of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association recently met with BOE commissioners to discuss ways to ease the impact on districts, while the Suffolk County Village Officials Association is preparing a letter to county leaders pushing back on the decision.

"This doesn't seem right to the villages that this should be pushed onto our taxpayers," said Brightwaters Village Mayor John Valdini, president of the village association.

The pushback follows an Oct. 7 memo BOE commissioners wrote to clerks of school districts, fire districts, library districts and villages that they would no longer provide voting machines starting Jan. 1 as it transitions to new touch screen voting machines.

Added costs

Longwood school district Superintendent Lance Lohman, co-chair of the legislative committee for the superintendents association, said he and other leaders met with the BOE commissioners and deputy commissioners Oct. 21 in a "productive" meeting. He said the commissioners were "very receptive" to concerns raised by the superintendents and offered to assist districts through the transition.

He said he understood the reasoning the commissioners explained, saying the BOE is facing "some real challenges," from the time it will take to train staff on the new machines to the burden of the even-year election schedule, which merges local elections with gubernatorial and presidential contests.

The BOE is led by John Alberts, the Democratic commissioner, and Erin McTiernan, the Republican commissioner appointed in September. The commissioners did not respond to a request for comment about its decision and how it can ease the transition for districts and villages.

A spokesman for County Executive Edward P. Romaine declined to comment and deferred to the BOE.

The BOE offered districts and villages on a "first come first serve basis" the chance to request some of its 425 used Dominion ImageCast Evolution voting machines. The board set a Nov. 15 deadline before any unclaimed machines would be offered to other counties for sale, according to the memo.

"The fact that they’re open to donate those machines to us that they currently have is definitely a good step in the right direction," Lohman said, but added there are "other pieces we have to work out to make sure that the costs are as close to what they’ve been in the past."

Lohman cited estimates several districts received from Dominion to essentially run elections as they have in the past by renting machines directly from the company.

• The Remsenburg-Speonk school district, a small district of 133 students, according to 2023-24 state data, would spend $1,500 to rent machines from the county and use county staff. The estimate now is $10,576.
• The Kings Park school district, a medium-size district of 2,619 students, would be charged $12,780, an increase from $3,059.
• The Longwood S school D district, one of the largest in the county with 8,788 students, would be charged $37,500, an increase from $6,700. The district’s 2025-26 budget totals $315 million.

Suffolk school districts typically used just under 400 voting machines on budget vote night, Lohman said, citing a number provided to him by the BOE commissioners.

He said some districts may switch to paper ballots, particularly smaller districts.

A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Nov. 12. He said the commissioners are looking into whether their current contract with Dominion can extend into next year to allow districts to get through the May elections.

"We don’t have a solid answer on that yet," Lohman said.

The BOE may also be able to provide staff for support for a district's election. He said Dominion would charge $4,500 for an on-site support person. Dominion is also charging $2,500 to each district for training on the machines. Lohman said the BOE will look to work with the company to "see if they can provide more of a regional training where we can send our staff to them and work in collaboration to learn how to use the machines."

'Watch every penny'

The New York State Board of Elections does not provide any uniform instruction to county boards on whether to provide voting machines to other districts, a state BOE spokesperson said.

According to an annual survey of county boards in 2024, a total of 39 county boards answered "yes" to a question of whether they loan scanners and ballot marking devices to other districts. A total of 18 county boards answered "no." The New York City Board of Elections does not provide machines, according to the survey.

The 10 largest counties in New York based on population, excluding New York City, all provide machines to districts, according to the 2024 survey.

Valdini, the Brightwaters mayor, said he’s been fielding inquiries from fellow mayors about how to proceed.

His village has already had to deal with paper ballots in recent elections when the BOE could not provide machines for its June election because of conflicting primaries. He said the most recent election had about 700 people vote and it took three and a half hours to count by hand.

"It wasn’t too much fun," he said.

He said small villages have to "watch every penny" spent and new costs add a burden to taxpayers.

He had reservations about acquiring the voting machines offered for free by the elections board. He compared it to being offered "an old used car."

Some of Suffolk’s 32 villages will be holding elections in March, giving them a narrow window to find a solution. The Village of Lindenhurst, the largest of Suffolk’s villages with a population of more than 27,000, will hold a March election for trustees and village justice.

Mayor Michael Lavorata said "it would behoove us to pick up some of these machines" and said the village requested 18. He said the village has done elections with paper ballots, but "it’s very sloppy naturally."

He said it's unclear what costs might come with acquiring the current machines offered by the BOE, but added the expense could be "a wash" since conducting an election with paper ballots requires hiring more workers.

"The next question might be, how many years will we get out of these things?" he said.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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