Despite Concerns, Dix Hills Voters Warm up to New Machines

Dix Hills voters on Tuesday seemed more curious than unhinged about new electronic voting machines. In fact, for some voters the allure over the changed machinery made them more eager to vote in the primaries.

Mike Fusco, who voted with his wife, said it was a simple process.

"It slid right in. In fact," he said. "I won a hundred bucks! Now I'm going to Atlantic City."

Zorina Tomich said that she wasn't going to come to the polls originally, but wanted to give the new system a try. After she voted,  she said that everything worked fine.

The new machines replace the familiar mechanical levers and curtained areas with paper ballots that have to be filled out in "privacy booths," and then scanned into machines.

It's a three-step process now. People have to sign in at their polling place, like they always did, said Roberta Soroka, one of the inspectors at Half Hollow Hills High School East.

"Then they have to fill out these new ballots," she said. "They have to color in the circle for the person they want to vote for. They can't put an X or a check mark. They have to color in the circle. Like students taking a Scantron test, such as the SAT," she explained.

Then the ballot has to be inserted into the machine.

"I've seen it cause some confusion so far today," Soroka said. "People have made mistakes several times already, even though we haven't had many voters yet."

New York is the last state in the nation to fall in line with the Help America Vote Act, which, among other things, requires a paper trail of each vote cast. The changeover was federally mandated after the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida held up the naming of a new Commander-in-Chief.

Seniors like Soroka at Hills East are on hand to help voters through this procedure. "It might be a good thing that there aren't too many people here today," Soroka said. "Primaries usually don't get a large turnout. It will be interesting to see what happens with the general election in November, when we have a lot more people voting."

Charlie Rempe, the coordinator for Half Hollow Hills, said that all his workers were well-trained in how to use the new system and explain it and were ready to help anyone who needed help.

About a half a dozen machines stood at the ready, just waiting for voters.

Outside the school, Donald Giambalvo and his wife Pat, were a little concerned before going in to use the system for the first time.

"What happens if I make a mistake and check off the wrong candidate?" Giambalvo wondered. "What's involved to fix it?"

But a few minutes later the couple came out smiling. "It was pretty easy," he said. "And they give you three shots to fix any mistakes. I asked."

Dominador Pascual Jr., also found the process "pretty good." He said he saw on TV how to do it and had no problems.

One man in a suit who wouldn't give his name, said it was very easy but he claimed not to like the new machines. "I think they can be rigged," he said.

Over at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Melville, another polling place for Half Hollow Hills residents, it was much busier. Quite a number of people were coming and going from the church.

An older gentleman in a hat came out of the polling place shaking his head. "I wanted to vote for Harry Truman like I did last time. But I couldn't," he said.