By William Lewis
In the 1930s and ’40s, voting machines came into use in most American cities. The era of paper ballots was over and the possibility of voter fraud was lessened, but there are always some people who will try to beat the system.
In the Sept. 10 primary, it seems we will be returning to the old voting machines, supposedly just for that election. The new computerized voting machines will be left for a later date.
To have an accurate election result, we must have an honest election, especially at the polling sites on Election Day. All voting machines should be checked at 6 a.m. when voting begins to make sure votes have not been cast before the voting schedule starts.
Voting machines should be checked to make sure these machines are in proper order during the voting hours. If there should be a machine breakdown at one of the city polling sites and paper ballots are used, a significant amount of attention should be paid to this situation. The more paper ballots are used in place of the old voting machines, the more chance there is for irregularities.
One of the most important aspects of voting pertains to voting by affidavit paper ballots. Voters who are not listed in the enrollment books and who indicate that they live in the district being contested are usually given affidavit paper ballots and these ballots are reviewed later.
Voters who come into the ballot place in large groups and are not listed as enrolled should be carefully checked. All political parties should have poll watchers on duty at each polling site. All poll watchers should have poll watcher certificates for each election district, signed by the county chairman or the candidate who running for public office.
Honest elections are a symbol of society at large and project a true democratic system in government and also among citizens.
Times have changed, and with it voting practices. For instance, in the 1850s in Manhattan there were elections where rival gangs fought in the streets for control of voting sites. The group that won got to count the paper ballots.
In 1993, one candidate for mayor, Rudy Giuliani, went all out to preserve ballot security. He had a special committee that continually had classes for poll watchers. In addition, he had a group of mostly young attorneys who checked polling sites and were called in to polling places when any serious problems occurred. At the time, it was one of the most extensive ballot security operations to date.
There is a lot at stake in election results. For some it could mean the beginning or end of a political career. Ballot security procedures have been with us for a long time. Today it has become more effective than in past years, but there is always room for improvement.
This year we have primaries in the Republican and Democratic parties for mayor. This is an unusual situation. There has not been a serious Republican primary for mayor in years. What is interesting is that this is the first mayoral election since 2001 when Michael Bloomberg won when we had an open seat for mayor.
Before that in 1989, we also had an open seat for mayor when Giuliani ran against Dinkins. Citywide mayoral campaigns attract a tremendous amount of attention. Citywide, the Democrats control almost all of the elective offices outside Staten Island.
The Republicans, however, have been able to elect mayors including Giuliani and Bloomberg. It will be interesting to see if they can do it this time with John Catsimatidis running against Joe Lhota.
Sept. 10 will be Primary Day for all political parties and candidates. Everyone interested in politics in New York and other states will be watching election results in New York City on election night.
