Voting Light at 715am at Roosevelt Island Polling Station

Voting this morning at the Roosevelt Island polling station was llight at 7:15am. I was only the15th voter for my electoral district. The individuals at the tables seemed pretty knowledgeable and not thrown by the new process. The same old signature books are in use.

The voting sheets were clearly understandable. The sheets could have used larger print fonts but each privacy voting area came equiped with a plastic magnifier sheet. I did not notice if there were privacy stations at wheel chair height as depicted above. I hope there were as they certainly are appropriate for our island.

My sheet was scanned quickly and without incident.

The polling station included about 4 election districts to which they had only two (2) scanning machines. Which was fiine for today when turnout is low but for a general election I am betting the scanning line will get long and they better bring more scanners.

All in all positive marks.

Note the above pictures are from the Board of Elections website as I forgot my camera this morning.

"Ballot Marking Devices" Somewhat Discouraged on Roosevelt Island

Yesterday's election turnout by all accounts was light and on Roosevelt Island it was no different than anywhere else. As expected the only primary races (for Democrats) involved the Manhattan Surrogates Couty and Civil Court Judgeship. What was interesting was the presence of a new "Ballot Marking Device" whose use, at least on Roosevelt Island, was somewhat discouraged. With a high population of disabled on the island between the hospitals and residents one would think we might have had even two of such machines and higly trained advocates there to encourage its use.

Upon speaking with the poll workers it was clear that if a voter wanted to use the "ballot marking device" and asked to use it they could not refuse the request but as I was prompted to use it by an interested individual I was softly directed to vote normally via the old traditional lever controlled voting machines. After speaking with a few poll workers it appeared clear that using the new device was not an easy endeavor and I was told when it was tried a few times during the day it did not always work. The instruction card I was shown was not the most clear either.

It was also pointed out to me that the device is not easily tabulated and like regular paper ballots must be counted separately at the end of the day, something the poll workers were not thrilled about. I also got the impression that unless the races were tight counting such ballots would not be a priority. It almost sounds like the counting were to take place there by these workers which I did not believe is how it is done.

I will admit my interest, though prompted by the aforementioned interested party, was one of curiousity. It was only heightened upon learning that the operation of the machine did not appear easy for able bodied voters as opposed to the differently abled voters the machine was created for. My query to the workers was unless they get practice helping voters using the machine how well trained are they to help someone who must use it. I did not get too many replies.