After a somewhat rocky initial run in September’s primary, the city’s new electronic voting machines will face their toughest test yet during the Nov. 2 general election.
The city Board of Elections breaks down the new voting system into “three simple steps”: Getting a paper ballot, marking it and scanning it. Some primary voters, though, found the new system confusing, and encountered technical issues. City officials believe any kinks have been ironed out.
The machines, serving 4.3 million registered voters, are designed to provide a verifiable paper record by replacing the longstanding lever machine with a scanner and paper ballot. The system follows the federal Help America Vote Act, which was passed in 2002 in response to the 2000 Bush-Gore ballot debacle.
