West Side Voters Test New Machines

by dan rivoli

west siders went to the polls sept. 14 to vote in primaries. but this year, the decades-old lever machine, in which voters flick a switch next to their desired candidate's name and crank back a red lever, have been retired for a new model.

voters received a sheet of paper with bubbles next to the candidates' name. the voter then had to fill in the bubble completely, and then feed the paper into an optical scanner that records the vote.

sounds simple, right?

linda rosdeitcher, an upper west side voter, was nervous the new ballot would fail to count her vote.

"it's always scary to do something new and different," she said outside of a polling place on west end avenue between west 82nd and west 83rd street. "i needed instructions."

david stone, who cast his ballot at a site on west 72nd street between broadway and west end avenue, had an easy time voting.

"it was fast, going in and out," stone said.

but elsewhere in the upper west side, voters were not as lucky. there were reports throughout the city that optical scanning machines were broken or malfunctioning and polling places opening late. an upper west side poll worker that voted on her lunch break detailed a number of problems she witnessed, including paper ballots being jammed, optical machines not reading them correctly and voters incorrectly filling out ballots.

"there's a good thing there's a low-turn out," she said. "there are difficulties with the machines," she said.

mayor michael bloomberg, during a press conference called the situation a "royal screw up" that was "unacceptable."

council speaker christine quinn and gale brewer, the upper west side council member who chairs the government operations committee, released a joint statement criticizing the board of elections.

"the board of elections demonstrated a troubling inability to fully execute a new system that they have had months to prepare for," the statement read. "the city council will hold a hearing in the coming weeks to examine any problems that did arise today and what changes might be made to improve the process in the coming months"