Levers’ vote of confidence
It’s a good thing the city’s Board of Elections hasn’t already scrapped the old mechanical-lever voting machines.
With federal prosecutors now investigating the award of a $50 million contract for new electronic machines, there’s a chance the old workhorses will be brought back into service.
Fortunately, the agency has already been paying to store and maintain all 7,700 of the lever machines, just in case the new technology goes on the fritz this Election Day.
“We are keeping them in fine working condition as a contingency plan,” said John O’Grady, the chief voting technician for the city’s Board of Elections. “We haven’t missed an election yet, and we don’t plan to.”
After years of delays, the city announced earlier this year that, starting with the September primaries, New Yorkers would be voting on paper ballots scanned by machine.
Elections Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., was awarded the contract to provide the new equipment, which will replace the workhorses the city has been using since the 1960s.
Now prosecutors are questioning how that contract was awarded. There are no plans to bring back the old machines, but they are ready if needed.
