Mayor Marvin's Column: Voting Machines and Village Elections

The following is a weekly column from Bronxville Mayor Mary C. Marvin: 

The following series of events presents an all too typical microcosm, or the perfect case study, of what local governments confront when dealing with the State government.  It is so ludicrous it would be funny if it was not so indicative of our dealings with a legislature that has lost not only fiscal responsibility, but plain common sense.

By law, many villages throughout the State must hold local elections this coming March 15 for Trustee and Mayoral positions. To prepare, our Village Administrator, Harry Porr, who also serves as our Village Clerk, attended a recent seminar on the electoral plan.  He returned with the astounding news that even though elections are in just eight weeks, we are without any legal means to cast and count ballots.  The “old fashioned” lever machines that we have used reliably for years are now illegal since they do not comply with the standards of the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which mandates that voting machines be “upgraded.”

Somehow, they are illegal if used in municipal elections in 2011, but not illegal for school district and fire district elections until 2012.  Also outlawed just this past year is the use of traditional paper ballots to count votes in villages.  Mired in confusion and illogic, the State has deemed these ballots illegal for a person voting in person, but perfectly legal for absentee voting.  The only “in person” paper ballots allowed are those that are scanable by the new electronic voting machines.  However, the new electronic machines are owned by the County of Westchester and up until last week, the County Board of Elections would not allow villages to use them in the March elections.  These are the same machines you as taxpayers purchased with some of the $8 million in taxes our Village sends to the County government each year.

The County asserted that they had signed an agreement with the State of New York and the vendor who markets the machines to keep them exclusively in the custody of County government.  Counties that did not sign this “exclusivity” agreement are now charging their local villages very hefty rental fees.  As an example, the Village of South Blooming Grove in Orange County, population 2,800, will be charged $15,000 by Orange County to use the machines.  This translates into at least a $10 rental fee per eligible voter, excluding other costs including election inspectors.

The New York State Conference of Mayors has worked with State Senator Jack Martins of Long Island to introduce new legislation to allow the same exemption accorded to school districts and fire districts to use the lever machines, and in the alternative, use the traditional non-scanable paper ballot.

However, the Mayors’ group holds out little hope that the legislature will act upon the bill in time for the March 15 elections.  It is currently in the Senate Elections Committee and has yet to reach the Senate floor, let alone be passed by the Assembly as well. 

The Westchester County Clerks Association continues to press State and County officials for a timely and practical resolution to what should be a small matter in the life of governments.

Just prior to press time, we learned that the County Election Commissioners are now willing to share the electronic machines they were unable to convey under the exclusivity agreement just last week.

This is all subject to a needed letter from the State. If New York State says no, then the County Elections Commissioners intend to either sue the State or ask the villages to sue the State.  Either way, we the taxpayers, will absorb the legal costs.

In the interim, we must choose from a list of scan-machine trained election inspectors to hire, even though we do not know if we will have the machines.

Even assuming the machines are released to villages, we have no idea of the rental fee.  In addition, we are required to purchase three scanable ballots for every anticipated voter, since the new election law (HAVA) allows two mistakes per voter.  At one dollar per ballot, the cost is not inconsequential.

If the machine rental costs are anywhere near as exorbitant as those charged to our colleagues in Orange County, I would recommend we opt to use the lever machines and let the State challenge our results.  (We do joke at Village Hall that the thousands of very reliable lever machines that have been declared obsolete may end up as a coral reef somewhere!) 

I remain amazed at the proficiency our State government continues to demonstrate in ignoring the major issues such as healthcare and pension reform while convoluting even the simplest functions of local government.

The above scenario, in my opinion, is yet another reason why government consolidation into larger entities is not the answer.  Common sense seems to dissipate the farther you get from your constituents.

Editor's Note: This piece, in its entirety, was written by Bronxville Mayor Mary C. Marvin. 

Note: This column was updated from the original version.