Lack of privacy big issue with new voting machines

The modern technology of new optical-scan voting machines was hampered, it turns out, by the age-old element of human error.

Long Island voters told Newsday that they thought poll workers intruded on their privacy as they voted on the new voting machines used in New York in Tuesday's elections.

Poll workers looked at completed ballots or handled the ballots incorrectly, voters said. In Dorothy Martin's case, a poll worker at her Massapequa polling site looked at her ballot and announced aloud that she did not vote for a specific office.

While the poll workers were trained on privacy issues during orientations of 2 1/2 hours, they sometimes don't follow procedure, officials acknowledged. "We've got to be intensively training our inspectors," said Nassau County Democratic Elections Commissioner William Biamonte.

He said the county tried to anticipate these problems after voters who used the new machines in the September primary elections complained about a lack of privacy.

Some of the complaints stem from the perception that the new system is less protected than the cozy, curtained old machines, Biamonte noted.

"Standing next to somebody in a five-foot booth writing their info, then walking up to a scanner - we as human beings don't like change," Biamonte said.

The concern was widespread across the state, said John Conklin, director of public information for the state Board of Elections. "The poll workers try to be helpful and may not be conscious of how close they are standing," he said. "We have tried to address that."

In Nassau, 11 or 12 voting machines had to be replaced during Election Day, and there were reports of broken machines that had to be repaired in the contested 7th State Senate District, Biamonte said.

In Suffolk, no voting machines had to be replaced, said Assistant Elections Commissioner Ivan Young. A crew was dispatched to Sayville High School to repair a malfunctioning scanner, and to Longwood High School in Middle Island where keys were stuck in the scanner locks, Young said.

The New York City Board of Elections said, "Generally speaking, the Election Day operations went well" and reported no major problems, according to communications director Valerie Vazquez. The number of broken or malfunctioning scanners in New York City was not immediately available.

The new system also delayed the reporting of results, because the votes were stored on portable hard drives that needed to be downloaded onto certified computers - a process that took at least three hours after the polls closed, according to Biamonte.

In Suffolk, Young acknowledged a lag in reporting.

"It did take a little bit longer in terms of closing the machine than with the lever machine. When you close the old machines, in 30 seconds you can open the machine and see the votes," Young said. "The computer takes time to calculate the final tally."