Embarassed at the SBOE

The Times-Union reports on the latest example of partisan gridlock in New York, as the State Board again fails to come to agreement on which voting systems to authorize for purchase. We'll see if they do any better today.

Bo Lipari is embarassed.

And we understand his embarassment. The hang-up is over whether the board should authorize the purchase of one type of "accessible" voting machine, the Liberty DRE, that is outrageously expensive compared to other systems, confusing for many voters to use and -- as far as we know -- has never actually been used before in the United States. It is also probably inaccessible to a very large number of disabled voters (the very voters these machines are supposed to serve!).

There do not appear to be any legitimate objections to the other three ballot marking devices, two of which are far less expensive and have been successfully depolyed around the United States. But unless the Liberty DRE is approved, the Republican commissioners appear willing to put the entire approval process on hold.

Whose interest is the Board of Elections supposed to be serving again?