Lever voting machines are back — for now

Local officials are hailing a decision by the state that will allow the use of mechanical lever voting machines in the upcoming village elections. Residents of several local villages, including Valley Stream, Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Cedarhurst and Malverne will be electing a mayor and trustees on March 15.

“It makes it easier for all of the villages,” said Robert Fumagalli, deputy village clerk of Valley Stream. “What other option do you have?”

Last year, the new electronic voting machines, which scan paper ballots, debuted for the primary election in September and the general election in November, replacing the lever machines that had been used for decades. A bill recently passed unanimously in the New York State Assembly and by a 55-5 vote in the State Senate eliminating the requirement that electronic voting machines be used in village, school, fire and other special district elections through 2012. The bill was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Feb. 25.

“This bill provides villages with an opportunity to lower their cost of running elections while giving them more choice in how they are conducted,” said Assemblyman Brian Curran (R-Lynbrook), who supported the bill. “I’m pleased that I had the chance to cosponsor legislation that will give more freedom to local villages.”

The county’s electronic voting machines will be unavailable to villages for the March election, which means that a village would have to contract with the supplier to use the machines. In Valley Stream, the cost would have been upward of $50,000, far exceeding the village’s entire election budget of $16,000. “All for one day,” Fumagalli said. “You wouldn’t own them. You’d only be renting them.”

That’s why it was a relief to hear that the lever machines can be used, Fumagalli said.

John Giordano, Lynbrook’s village clerk, said that the cost of using the electronic machines would be about $15,000, compared with less than $1,000 for the lever machines. “We want to use the lever machines,” Giordano said. “The new electronic machines are too costly.”