New Voting Machines Just Ain't Cutting It

Onondaga County bought 500 new voting machines but while voters may have paid for them, getting them to use them looks like a tougher sell. Election workers delivered these machines to polling places throughout Onondaga County before Tuesday’s election.

At two polling places where voters had a choice, most were going with the old lever machines.

An election inspector at Toomey Abbott Towers, a senior citizen apartment building near Syracuse University, says the new paper-ballot-and-scanner voting machines are too complicated for voters to use.

“These new machines suck,” said the inspector, who spoke on the condition of not being identified. “They’re just too slow. Most people are simple, just meat and potatoes.”

The inspector added one person used the new voting machine during the September primary. During Tuesday’s election, voters at Toomey Abbott Towers had the option to vote using lever machines or the new electronic voting machines.

“People can pull a lever,” the inspector said. “The writing ballot is too complicated. It takes handicapped people almost 30 minutes to vote using the new machines.”

Another election inspector at the E.S. Bird Library on the Syracuse University campus says she is frustrated with the new voting machines. “It’s going to be the only machine next year,” Susan Greenman said. “We don’t know what we’re doing. Personally, I think New York State made a bad choice.”

As of 10:00 a.m., four hours after the polls had opened, no voter had used the new voting machines at the Bird Library.