January 5, 2011

Gordon to push county for free voting machines

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By Bill Toscano

Whitehall Town Supervisor Richard “Geezer” Gordon is on a mission, and while he’s focused on his own town, he’s also out to help Granville, Cambridge, Salem and Argyle in the process.

At the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting Dec. 17, Gordon made it clear that he feels the county should provide the new state-mandated voting machines for free for March’s village elections.

“The towns paid for those machines when we bought them. They shouldn’t have to pay again,” said Gordon, who said he will attend the board’s Government Operations Committee meeting Jan. 12 and will make the request of the full board at its Jan. 21 meeting.

In the past, towns owned and stared their own machines, but as of last year’s primaries and elections, the state mandated that electronic scanning machines be used in all elections. The machines are owned by the county. There were some minor glitches with them last year, including a problem in Granville, which was later solved.

Gordon said it would be unfair for the county to ask the towns to pay for the machines for elections in their villages.

“They need to provide the machines for us,” he said.

Some villages had elections last year, but Whitehall, Granville, Cambridge, Salem and Argyle are scheduled to have them in March, according to the County Board of Elections.

This will be the first time that the new county-owned machines will need to be used in village elections.

The village board voted Monday night to use the Skenesborough Volunteer Fire Company as the polling place for the election, which will be more mayor and for two trustee positions. Trustees Ken Walt Sandford and Ken Bartholomew were elected to two-year terms in the election that was held in March 2010.