Election Bill Passes Assembly for
Fire and Special Districts
Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel’s voting machine legislation recently passed the New York State Assembly. The legislation (A.7469) will allow both fire and special improvement districts to continue using lever voting machines until December 31, 2012.
“A quick dose of realistic mandate relief was warranted. This commonsense legislation is critical for the continued efficiency of elections until localities can transition to electronic voting machines,” said Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, the bill’s sponsor.
As per current state law, these districts are required to vote using electronic ballot scanners which are hard to obtain as many counties refuse to lease them. Without this bill, many fire and special improvement districts will be forced to conduct their elections using expensive paper ballots, which cost 55 cents each.
Under this legislation, fire and special Improvement districts are granted the same measures as school districts and villages, which are already authorized to use lever voting machines through 2012.
