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Politics & Government

Voting Going Smoothly Across Huntington

With a steady turnout, few problems reported as of midday with new voting system.

A steady stream of voters kept poll workers around Huntington busy on a sunny, cool Election Day Tuesday. Turnout by noon was running slightly above average for a midterm election, several workers said.

New voting machines didn't prove much of a problem for most voters, with no problems reported in three Huntington polling sites. Voting was a tad slower in some districts as workers explained the mechanics to voters who hadn't used the new system in the primaries, but generally there were no problems. This is the first general election under the new system.

"It worked fine," said Rhoda Bauman, who voted at Woodull Intermediate School. "You just have to engage the paper and then it feeds in" to the electronic vote-tabulation machine.

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As of 11:30 a.m., Woodhull had seen about 360 voters, said Ken Bacchus, election coordinator for that site. "It's been a steady turnout, and it's increasing as the day goes on."

Some voters liked the new machines, where voters fill in a circle on a paper ballot, like a scantron form for electronic testing systems.

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"They're really great. They're efficient and private. And it makes it easier for the workers since it tallies all the numbers," said Ruthie Bergman, a former poll worker who said she was voting today for the last time as a New York resident before moving to Florida.

Curt Potter, who voted at Jack Abrams School, said he wasn't blown away by the technology and likened them to filling in the answers on the SAT test. "But it's easier to fill in the fields than it is to use a machine," he said.

Dana Busa, who brought Isabella, 6, and twins Sophia and Nicholas, 3, with her while she voted at Jack Abrams, liked the new system." I like it better than the old way. I felt like this way I had a chance to study it and hold it in my hand."

However, Gloria Daniti said as she waited in line as workers in District 141 at Woodhull explained the system, a few people in line with her wondered if their ballots were confidential since they felt like poll workers could see how they voted as the forms were fed into the electronic tabulation machines. "I turned mine upside down so they couldn't see it," Daniti said.

She wasn't sold on the new system, although her voting experience went smoothly. "If they had problems with paper in all those states, why did we switch to it?" she wondered. "And if we're going green, why are we using paper?"

Voting continues until 9 tonight. Although doors close at 9 p.m., if voters are online by then, the machines will stay open to tabulate their votes, said Jeff Schaller, voting coordinator at Jack Abrams, where four districts vote. After the last person votes, the machines print out results on a calculator tape and results are called in to the Suffolk County Board of Elections.



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