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Politics & Government

Scattered Problems for New Voting Machines

No major glitches spotted in Massapequa, but difficulties reported countywide.

There were problems, delays and a fair share of confusion, but voters' first experience with the new electronic voting machines did not produce any major disasters.

"We've had some glitches," said Eleanor Sciglibaglio of the Nassau County Board of Elections. "Some have involved human error some have involved scanner problems and some involved things like paper jams."

Sciglibaglio said that workers had been deployed throughout the county to fix any reported problems, but that electronic voting is still proceeding as planned.

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A Patch reporter who visited several polling places in Massapequa did not see any major problems.

"I had no problems," said George Francis who voted at Massapequa High School. "If anyone does it once, they should be able to handle it from then on. It looks like a good system to me."

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Catherine Shaw found that the new machines streamlined the act of voting.

"I was worried about the small print, but it turned out to be fine," she said. "I think the new machine really expedited the process."

Lois Muller, a worker at the polling center at Marjorie Post Park, demonstrated a version of the voting machine tailored to the handicapped.

"You put your ballot in, you can zoom in to enlarge the text, and you can even select English or Spanish" she said. "If you're blind it has Braille and headphones, and rocker pedals and mouth controllers for people who are paralyzed."

However, despite the overall praise, there were complaints about certain aspects of the new voting machine.

Walter Noonan found the text on the ballot difficult to read.

"The machine seems alright, but the ballot is very hard to see because it's so small," he said. "They have this whole page, and everything is shrunken down to the left-hand side."

Bill O'Brian had misgivings regarding how the voting information on the ballots was configured.

"I think the new machines are going to be a massive mess," he said. "Right now it's fine because you vote Republican and Democrat across one line, and you've got to mark all those little squares. But think about Election Day, with all the additional parties and candidates...the lines are going to wrap around the school."

Robert Hirst's first experience with the new voting machines actually left him worrying if the vote he just cast will even count.

"I like the votes clicking," he said, referring to the previous voting machine's level-pulling mechanism. "I do not trust the electronic things. I've been in electronics for 30 years, and I know how they can be manipulated. It's scary because I don't know if I got what I wanted."

Muller was enthusiastic about voter turnout at her location.

"We've had 45 people vote so far today, and the new machines are functioning very smoothly" she said Tuesday morning. "And as you can see, we still have a lot of people here waiting to vote."

A bigger turnout was present at Charles E. Schwarting Elementary in North Massapequa, as they represented a full ten voting districts.

"We've had about 200 people vote here today," said Rosemary Locher. "The only problem we've had with the new voting system is acclimating people to it. People are saying it's pretty easy once we show them how to do it."

Sciglibaglio described voter turnout in the county as "mixed," saying curiosity about the new machines brought extra voters out in some areas, but the usual small turnout for primary elections held in other places.

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto paid a visit to Schwarting to see how things were progressing with the new machines.

"It appears that everything is going very well, and people seem quite comfortable with it," he said. "However, having said that, I think the real test is going to come on Election Day, November 2nd, when we'll have a lot more people voting."

 

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