Voters React to New Electronic Voting Machines

09/14/2010 05:24 PM

By: Leah George, Rochester YNN

Tuesday’s primary elections were the first time the new optical scan voting machines were put into widespread use in Monroe County and New York State.

“They’re having some troubles getting set up, and I think it’s just the newness of it, even though they’ve all been trained,” voter Bill Gerling said.

It was a bit of a slow start at some polling stations.

“Anytime you introduce anything new, people have a little problem with it. But they’re calm and they’re working everything out,” Elections Inspector Jacqueline Griffin said.

Some voters did a little research ahead of time so they would know what to expect, and most people YNN spoke with said they liked the new system.

“Just writing it down as opposed to clicking and hoping, the old ones weren’t lined up, sometimes it was hard to tell if you were clickin’ the right one and this was sort of like the old standardized tests, fill in the bubble and everybody’s seen that,” voter Emily Kimmel said.

The new voting machines have been in the works for eight years. That is when Congress passed laws requiring efficient and accessible voting machines. New York was the last state to make the changes. Elections commissioners were hoping all the bugs would be worked out by now.

“It’s not always easy,” voter Anita Cameron said.

Cameron is a legally blind, African-American woman, who takes her right to vote seriously.

“People died so that I could have the right to vote. So, I feel that it would be dishonorable of me to kind of dishonor their sacrifice,” Cameron said.

The new voting machines for the disabled provide audio for the blind, a new opportunity for voters that Cameron believes were disenfranchised in the past.

“For many people with disabilities, this is the only way we can vote secretly and independently. So you gotta get used to them whether you like it or not,” Cameron said.

While some voters are grateful for the new voting technologies, others remain skeptical.

“The proof in the pudding will be the counting tonight,” Gerling said.