Voting goes electric in New York Tuesday

ALBANY

A NEW ERA of voting begins Tuesday as New Yorkers cast paper ballots that will be read by computerized scanners.

The lever voting machines, in use on Long Island for nearly 100 years, have been replaced in order to comply with a 2002 federal law. It addresses problems seen in 2000 in the presidential election recount in Florida and eases balloting for the disabled.

Nassau and Suffolk counties are using different equipment but the process is nearly identical.

Voters go to their usual polling place, sign the registry book and receive a paper ballot and a privacy folder to hide their candidate selections. The ballot is laid out like those in the lever machines.

Voters mark ballots at high tables equipped with small partitions and a pen. They should be careful to fill in thoroughly the oval next to the candidate of their choice. They then insert the ballot into a nearby scanner and wait for a message on the monitor to indicate the votes have been recorded.

"This is a very big change and there will be hiccups and problems," said Bo Lipari of New Yorkers for Verified Voting. "But my expectation is this will generally be successful."