- By Dan Veaner
- News
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Trustee Lynn Leopold expressed concern that the new voting machines mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 will not be ready, or worse will be available too late for adequate election official training. Tompkins County Republican Election Official Elizabeth W. Cree agrees. "The Board Of Elections has been preparing all types of plans as far as voter education," she says. "We wanted a good six months before we actually used the machines."
The problem is that the State has not certified specific machines for use in New York elections. Until that happens the County Board of Elections (BOE) can not purchase them. Cree says the vendors didn't have their machines ready to demonstrate at a January conference.
The Federal government sued New York State on March 1 over its failure to certify electronic voting machines, and for having the worst record of HAVA compliance than any other state. The State could lose $49 million in federal funding if the new machines are not up and running by next November's general election. Cree fears this may result in new machines in the Village election without adequate election official or voter training. "We may have a lawsuit going on, so it may be driven by court order," she says.
The BOE is planning for any eventuality. Cree notes that they can put some phases of the plan into effect, even if the new machines are not here. "Because it's a whole new ball game for us we get to do phase 1 of the program, centralizing the machines. We're working in good faith to implement HAVA."
This seems like a lot of scrambling for an election that has historically had low turnouts. Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski says that a typical Village election only draws between 60 to 100 voters. But lawful procedures must be used no matter how many voters turn up. One reason for the low turnout is that the Village has run uncontested races for years. The last contested election was in 1998, when three candidates ran for two seats.
Some Trustees also worried that the odd election date contributes to the small numbers. In 1978 the election was moved to April to address the concern that voters would not be present to vote during Cornell and public school breaks.
In the past the election couldn't be synchronized. When Village and County districts do not match elections must be held on different days, because some voters would have to go to one voting place for Village votes and another for County, State or Federal. Matching the Village district to a County district made it possible for the Trustees to choose to hold their elections on the more common March or Novembers dates.
Commissioner Cree says it is now within the Trustees' power to synchronize the date with March or November elections. "When we redistricted we made sure to draw the lines so the Village could be on the November ballot. We told them that, but they didn't want to do it at that time."
Fresinski says that one advantage of the April date is that it occurs after the budget is set. He says that if voters are unhappy with the budget they can vote Trustees out of office.
Village officials have already begun the budget process with Village Clerk Jodi Dake walking Trustees through a first draft last Monday. The Village budget tends not to be a political hot potato, because officials have kept it to the rate of inflation over the years. Dake predicts Village taxes won't change next year despite higher evaluations, in part because the Village's water bond is now paid off. $600,000 of sales tax revenue, utility tax, cable franchise fees and a long list of other sources also help to keep property taxes down.
Meanwhile the election will take place whether the new machines are ready or not. As required by the new law the BOE has taken possession of the of lever machines from the towns. "We've appointed two senior technicians," Cree says. They are servicing the old machines so they will be ready in case they are needed. "We're going to maintain them as if we're using them in the fall."
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