It took a lawsuit and federal court order to do it, but Delaware, Chenango and parts of Otsego counties are finally being dragged into the 21st century world of voting.
It's about time.
It's also about fairness to handicapped voters and coming to terms with the inevitable.
We're referring to electronic voting machines _ more precisely, optical scanners.
The voting process around here used to be relatively simple ... as long as you were able-bodied and not visually handicapped, that is.
You decided which candidate deserved your support, then you walked into a booth, closed the curtain behind you and pushed down a lever next to that candidate's name.
It is a bit puzzling, given the fact that we pushed rather than pulled levers, that political ads urged us to "pull the lever" for this office-seeker or the other.
There really is nothing to fear about the new gadgets. If anything, the use of paper ballots is a case of "back to the future."
After marking their choices, voters will feed their ballots into a scanner at one end of the voting machine. The scanner will read the ballots and count the votes. The paper ballots will remain in a hopper where they can be counted by hand in close or contested elections or as part of routine audits.
In the past, handicapped citizens could not vote without someone's assistance. The new machines help ensure the independence everyone deserves.
The new machines have a computer screen, headphones, foot pedals and a sip-and-puff input device, so those with physical challenges can complete a ballot electronically that looks like ones filled out by hand.
Yes, the new equipment is more expensive and the ballots cost more to create, and yes, people have to be trained to monitor and use it.
But the effect on local coffers is minimal, as most of the money comes from the federal government, which adopted the Help America Vote Act in 2002.
New York state has been among the worst in the country in moving to the new machines, and there's really no excuse for the foot-dragging.
If there is concern that the elderly won't be able to figure things out, that's just nonsense. These folks figured out microwave ovens, cable TV and computers just fine. A new-fangled way of voting isn't about to faze them.
Otsego County is just putting its big toe into the water this year on the new machines. Let's make sure for the 2010 elections it joins Delaware and Chenango by jumping into the pool.
The water will be just fine.
