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Despite concerns about security and functionality, the Monroe County Board of Elections in June’s elections became the first in New York to use the ExpressVoteXL electronic voting machine.
The ExpressVoteXL is an electronic voting machine that replaces a paper ballot, which voters mark with a pencil or a punchcard, with a touchscreen. The board chose the machine for its ease of setup and breakdown, as well as its accessible voting features in the all-in-one design, which works without the need for pre-printed ballots.
The new machine instructs voters to select their preferred candidates on a large screen. The names and positions of selected candidates are then printed onto a blank ballot sheet, which the voter inserts into the machine to confirm their selections before casting the ballot. Finally, vote counters scan a barcode, also printed on the ballot sheet, to officially count the vote.
Critics on both sides of the aisle have argued that electronic voting machines are less secure than traditional paper ballots, and run the risk of malfunctioning due to power outages, user error, and hacking.
During elections in Pennsylvania in 2019 and 2023, there were reports of malfunctioning machines and confusion at polling stations stemming from hypersensitive touchscreens and printer jams. During a 2019 judge’s race in Northampton County, Pa., some ballots printed the names of candidates not selected by the voter, although the barcodes storing information remained accurate.
In a fact sheet released by Election Systems & Software, the machine’s Nebraska-based manufacturer, the company claims that those malfunctions were due to human error.
“This error in initial results reporting was immediately identified on election night and subsequently corrected by tabulating each paper record,” the company said. It added that “the (Northampton) County Council openly praised the technology for its outstanding performance.”
ES&S and Monroe County elections board argue that the machine provides a user-verifiable paper trail to ensure the accuracy of the ballot sheets. Additionally, the machines are equipped with backup batteries in case of power failure and store information on an encrypted hard drive inside the machine, to prevent remote hacking attempts.
In an email to the Beacon, MCBOE commissioners described the process of ensuring the machines were safe and accurate. “As part of our research and discovery process we visited both New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see the machines in action, spoke with voters, inspectors and Board staff in each of the counties visited.”
Further, all voting machines in New York are subject to logic and accuracy testing to “ensure various combinations, printing and tabulating (of votes) all match and function correctly.”
Patrick Reilly, Monroe County Republican chairman, also expressed his confidence in the machines.
“When I questioned some of the prior issues, I was assured that this was a different model than was involved and told about the rigorous testing that the county put the machines through and some additional configuration options that we had with regards to how to display things,” Reilly said. “Our commissioner (Larry Elder) at the Board of Elections on the Republican side was very confident in the integrity of these machines.”
Despite assurances, some are still skeptical. Democrat Mercedes Vazquez Simmons, Monroe County legislator for the 22nd District, expressed concern about the accessibility of the machines to some constituents.
“(The Board of Elections) didn’t really make sure each quadrant, particularly in the inner city, received the necessary training for it. It’s a tough group,” she says. “And many of our elderly people are somewhat intimidated by technology.”
The elections board has hosted several public demonstrations of the machines since purchasing them, including opportunities for voters to try the machines out themselves. However, Vazquez argues that these demonstrations weren’t enough for lower-income and elderly voters who rely on public transportation.
“Half of the constituents in my district don’t have cars,” she says. “They’re dependent on public transportation, and sometimes (the Board of Elections) will be dealing with an aging community.”
Vazquez adds: “I’m always in the mindset of we need to take services into communities.”
In addition to some local opposition, a Democrat-backed bill in the state Legislature and a lawsuit in the state appellate court seek to ban the use of electronic voting machines like the ExpressVoteXL. President Donald Trump has also criticized electronic voting machines, and called for new regulations that would effectively ban their use.
In its email to the Beacon, the county Board of Elections said it would work with vendors, the state Board of Elections, and local governments to find a path forward should new guidelines impact the use of the ExpressVoteXL.
“There is always a concern, rules and guidelines can change but we are confident with the machines and their capabilities,” the board stated. “We believe in the end all will be fine.”
David Wazana, a student at Ithaca College, is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
It does use much less paper because ballots are only printed for the people who vote. In the past ballots were printed for all voters ahead of time. Less than 20% showed up to vote on the primary election !
Um, why is the county making this switch? At first I thought maybe it would save paper compared to the now-traditional voting system, but no, the ballot still needs to be printed out which (since the machine is only reading a barcode) seems of dubious merit. What happened to what where WHY when and how?
We voted early (at the Gantt center). I didn’t have any actual problems but was surprised that the process flow was noticeably different from what was depicted in the instructional video on the county website. That variation was enough to cause my spouse to need verbal guidance from a worker outside the booth to complete her ballot; our adult son (with some mild intellectual disabilities) was completely flummoxed at one point and required help inside the booth (a report was filed).
My take is these are pretty good, but instructional material really ought to be customized to match what the voter is actually going to experience. (As someone with a long-time interest in the area of security and integrity of machine voting I also have a residual concern about the voter seeing printed text while the count will be based on an opaque barcode. Good audit procedures to rule out discrepancies are mandatory.)
We just had a primary election in Rochester. This article does not describe one real voter having a problem. It does not describe any real issues with the new system. So I am not sure why it was written.
I worked as an election inspector at School 7 in the city for the June primary. A clarification and a couple thoughts on this timely and helpful article.
– It’s new, so voters and election officials are learning/getting comfortable with the machines. The officials have had training. Still, it’s new to everyone.
– Overall, the new machines worked well and got good reviews from the voters and officials
– Some people, particularly the older generation, were intimidated by the technology itself and asked for help
– In the third paragraph, it says the voters insert the printed ballot into the machine to confirm their selections. That isn’t quite accurate. The voter doesn’t touch the ballot at that time. Once the voter has chosen the candidates, they are printed on the paper (already in the machine), which the voter can see through a window to the right of the screen. The voter reviews/double checks the choices through the window. If the choices are OK, the voter touches the screen to approve the choices, and the paper, still in the machine, is automatically moved/fed out of the window and into the storage part of the machine. The only time the voter touches the ballot in this example is when they put the blank ballot into the machine to start the process.
Hope all this helps some. It’s certainly a worthwhile topic.