08

Newsday reported recently on a story about New York state's voting system and its implications for the future. I have decided to discuss this for this week instead of the typical candidate debacles and superficialities. According to this story, New York has missed the deadlines set forth by the "Help America Vote Act" or *HAVA*. The US department of justice has even sued the state over this matter. An example of the state's failure deals with the accessibility of voting for the disabled. NY has done little to address this. The current voting machines do not create a paper record of the votes tallied, which could lead to the same problems as were present in the 2000 election. Also according to the article, there are nearly $200 million waiting in the bank to be used for the program and only about $20 million has been used. It was strange for me to view my state in a negative light for its inability to comply, but it is an interesting and important thing to know.