What's New
New HAVA Compliant Voting Machines
The Board of Elections is required by federal and New York State Election law to purchase new handicapped accessible voting machines this year. The Dutchess County Elections Commissioners have selected and purchased ImageCast Ballot Markers.
The Implementation Plan for 2008
New York State will be in compliance with HAVA regulations with the presence of the handicapped accessible machines at every polling site, starting in September, 2008. New York State has agreed to implement the handicapped accessible devices in a limited fashion. This allows the DC BOE to utilize the traditional lever machines during the upcoming Presidential election season.
Voters with special needs or disabilities will have the option of using the ImageCast Ballot markers this year. The function of the ImageCast will be to mark ballots only; the scan function on the ImageCast will not be functional in 2008. The ballots produced from this device will be hand-counted by Dutchess County Board of Election personnel at the time absentee ballots are processed.
The Implementation Plan for 2009
In 2009, lever-style voting machines will be disallowed by the State Board of Elections.
HAVA-compliant voting machines will replace the lever-style voting machines for every registered voter starting in 2009.
Updates to Election Law 2008:
The Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is a package of reforms that will ensure meaningful access to the democratic process for all New Yorkers. New York has developed a plan to implement the Act's provisions and access the federal funds needed to ensure compliance. The plans may be viewed in the PDF documents below and copies are available at county boards of elections and public libraries across the state and at the State Board of Elections.
The HAVA document is in PDF format. You will need the Adobe ™ Acrobat Reader to view and print the documents. You may download the program, free, from the Adobe ™ website.