By Faaria Kherani
Several dozen voters at William Alexander Middle School (MS 51) on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope were frustrated early on election day when new voting machines malfunctioned and they were initially given the wrong ballots.
The first batch of voters had to wait 35 minutes after the 6 a.m. opening of the polls on Tuesday before they were able to cast their vote.
“It’s a total mess in there,” said one mother who was running to drop her children off to school. “All that, and now I’m late for work!”
MS 51 was one of several polling sites in the city that had problems with the new machines, which are equipped with optical scanners to read paper ballots. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office reported that it received over 600 complaints about poll sites, ballots, and machines in New York City as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
At MS 51, poll workers were not able to start up several voting machines, and in another machine one of the early ballots jammed the scanner and it could no longer be used. As voters waited, poll workers rushed around the gymnasium in apparent confusion, calling to each other for technical help while directing voters to be patient.
Voters in line frowned and became restless. At one point, murmurs of “Come on!” and “Let’s Go!” came from the line.
The Wall Street Journal reported similar problems at another Park Slope voting place. At PS 321, three out of five machines were rendered inoperable because ballots were stuck in the scanners.
New York City’s federally mandated new voting system has created serious problems since it was first used on Primary Day, September 14. Board of Elections President Julie Dent has acknowledged the shortcomings the City experienced when it switched from mechanical to computerized voting machines.
“As expected with any major change, there were some issues, “ she said in an October 19 statement. “Since the Primary, we have taken a number of steps to address these issues and ensure a successful General Election on November 2.”
As voting began on Tuesday, however, even poll workers expressed frustration. One polling coordinator at MS 51 said, “It will take time, we can only do so many things. We’ve been using the old system for decades. Time’s the only thing that can help us now.”
One door clerk at MS 51 sat calmly outside the voting hall at 6:45 a.m. Seemingly unaware of the confusion and machine malfunctioning inside, he said the station had been ready to accept voters since 6 a.m.
The new voting system was introduced as part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), which requires that all states have voting systems that produce a permanent paper record that can be used in the event of a recount.
Criticism for the Election Day snafu has focused on the BoE, which is responsible for implementing the new system. Mayor Bloomberg, in an interview with the New York Times in September, said a major issue right now is the lack of accountability for the board’s performance on election days. The BoE receives large amounts of funding from the city, but is not subject to supervision by the mayor or the city council.
BoE spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez told The Brooklyn Ink yesterday that the BoE has held voting demonstrations in neighborhoods over the past month for voters to learn how to use the new system.
But voters interviewed when exiting MS 51 after casting their ballots said they felt the system is not well implemented and poll workers are untrained in troubleshooting tech problems.
“This is why people don’t vote. It’s like watching Joe the cable guy. They [poll workers] don’t know what they’re doing. And then they gave us the wrong ballot!” said one angry voter.
Voters citywide aired their grievances, large and small, on Twitter using the hashtag #nycvotes. Besides complaints about broken voting machines, the most common issues were a shortage of “I voted” stickers, lack of privacy, and the small font on ballots. Five New Yorkers posted on Twitter that poll workers at PS 290 in Manhattan showed “complete incompetence,” directing voters to the wrong table and telling one voter she was at the wrong building. Another voter said the process “makes trips to the DMV look fast and efficient.”
In a statement, the BoE said it trained workers for months to use the scanners and fix anticipated problems in the transition to computerized ballots.
The BoE also vowed to apply lessons learned from September 14 to November 2. New measures the board has undertaken to smooth out the voting process include shortening the time needed to test machines, ensuring on-time delivery of machines to polling stations, and deploying technicians to all sites the day before voting begins.
One voter, although disgruntled, said things have actually improved. He said he had waited three hours in September but only 35 minutes on Tuesday. He thinks the BoE has showed that it is trying to deliver its promise of addressing major technical issues.
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