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Faculty Speak Out on the Future of New York State’s Voting Technology
An Open Letter to the Governor, Legislature and Local Boards of Elections

As concerned computer and social science faculty of New York State, we write to urge you to take action to ensure the implementation of a secure, accurate, auditable and accessible voting system for all New Yorkers.

New York’s implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires dramatic changes to the voting system of the State.  Chief among these are mandates to replace the state’s antiquated lever machines, which are inaccessible to many voters and suffer unacceptable rates of undervotes—ballots that are cast but show no legally valid selection in a given race or referendum.¹  

While no system (mechanical, paper, electronic or otherwise) will ever be perfect, it is our opinion that the introduction of an optical-scan voting system would represent the best choice, provided that particular consideration is given to ensuring accessibility and identical treatment for all voters.

Under such a system, each voter at every Election District table would have the option of filling out their ballot by hand, in much the same way they might provide answers on a grade-school multiple choice test. Ideally, each voter at every Election District table would also have the option of using a dedicated ballot marker to fill out and print their ballot. A ballot marker at each table would help ensure that voters are not segregated onto separate lines or locations where the “accessible” machine is located. Ballots filled out by hand and printed by the ballot marker would then be fed into the same optical scanner to be read and tabulated.

Ballot marker machines, many of which resemble bank ATM interfaces, can be configured with a number of accessibility features: they can present ballots and instructions in multiple languages, produce audio prompts for sight-impaired voters and also offer a sip-and-puff interface for voters with certain physical disabilities.

Optical scan systems, as we propose them, offer the following advantages over their computerized Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) competitors:

• Greater public confidence. Recent reports highlighting problems with security and reliability have contributed to public cynicism about the appropriateness of using DRE technology to run elections.² California, for example, recently placed dramatic restrictions on the use of DREs after discovering severe security flaws in their recently purchased systems.³ Optical scan systems, on the other hand, are inherently safer from tampering or shoddy programming, and enjoy greater public trust. While New York law does require DRE voting machines to include a paper trail to document each vote, it is unlikely that they will ever enjoy the same level of public confidence as optical scan systems, which retain the actual ballots in case there is ever the need for a recount.

• Fewer undervotes. The DREs being marketed in New York register undervotes at the top of the ballot at rates between 40 and 70% higher than their optical scan counterparts (and in many cases, considerably higher than that in low income communities).⁴ For ballot proposals at the bottom of the ballot, these machines have undervote rates that are 75% higher than optical scan systems. ⁵ 

• Elections won’t be privatized. DREs use secret, proprietary computer code, which can only be updated and maintained by private vendors; using them means handing the mechanisms for running and counting elections over to private industry. Optical scan systems can allow for greater public control and provide for a more open and transparent process.

• Optical scan systems are easier to use by voters and easier to oversee by poll workers. Both DREs and ballot markers offer an array of interfaces to assist voters in casting their ballots. However, many voters will be unfamiliar with using an electronic interface, and some may be downright intimidated. Optical scan offers the advantage of providing these voters a familiar, simple and reassuring method of casting their votes by hand.

While familiar to many voters, the state’s mechanical lever machines are clearly in need of their HAVA-mandated update. The State's next-generation voting system must be more accessible and more reliable. Fortunately, a viable and—in many ways—improved technology is available: optical scan. 

We therefore urge the Governor and State Legislature to use their legislative and budgetary powers to adopt a single, uniform optical scan voting system statewide. We further urge the state’s County Boards of Elections, with whom the decision currently resides, to coordinate and adopt a uniform optical scan voting system instead of creating a patchwork of different systems and technologies across the state. It is our hope that such actions will lead to a more equitable, secure, accurate, accessible and auditable voting system for the state.

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For more information contact Neal Rosenstein at 212.349.6460 or nrosenstein@nypirg.org