Gregory Heller

I entered my poling location in the East Village, excited and anxious to exercise my democratic right to vote. But as I approached the table for the 15th Election District and the pole workers searched for my name in the log book, one of them informed me that the machine was broken and I would have to fill out a paper ballot. Instead of being struck by the nostalgia of what must have been the “old way�. I was, to say the least, disappointed that instead of being able to flip the switches and pull the lever making my vote official, I was left to fold my piece of paper and stick it into a slot cut in the side of a card board box. It wasn’t just any card board box, it was labeled “Emergency Ballot Box�, as if that was supposed to reassure me and other voters that my vote was safe and would count just like those cast on voting machines around the state.

I felt crest fallen. It didn’t feel American. The scene looked more like so many front page photos of voting in former Eastern Block countries or those held in oligarchic Asian nations where there are always controversies over poling techniques or people cast votes even though everyone secretly knows that no one will count them. I suppose voters that are subject to this means of voting in New York should feel reassured by a court order issued earlier this week on request from both the Democratic and Republican state parties. The order requires that all paper, absentee and affidavit ballots be impounded by the police when the poles close until they can be counted on November 9th. This measure is to insure that there is no ballot tampering before the ballots can be counted and is often employed at the last minute when the election results are expected to be close. Within hours of the pole closings, news outlets were reporting winners and their opponents were conceding defeat. It is no wonder so many voters feel disenfranchised by this system. While their votes sit uncounted under police protection, the winners have been announced leaving countless citizens to suffer from the impression that their votes don’t count.

This year’s voters can learn a lesson from last year’s City Council District 2 race. Initial reports on election night showed Judy Rapfogel, Sheldon Silver’s protégé, as the winner over the community activist Margarita Lopez. Lopez’s grass roots campaign contested the results and after a recounting of the machines and a counting of paper ballots, Lopez came out on top, by 231 votes. So every vote does count when races are close, such as this years New York senate race was expected to be. People must remember that the only way a vote counts is if it is cast in the first place.

If the powers-that-be see low voter turn-out as a problem--and I’m not saying that they do--then the Board of Elections should make a genuine effort to modernize its voting machines and insure that they will all work throughout election day every year. The fact is that most incumbents are more comfortable with low turnout, and state Republicans like Governor Pataki have been against voter registration efforts such as the motor-voter campaign. It is curious that the Justice Department is investigating the state for violating the National Voter Rights Act. It certainly does not instill confidence in the democratic system when voters around the state turn out at poling locations to cast their votes only to find out that the machines are broken.