That’s right, lever machines.  Now, without the need to preclear their use in upcoming municipal elections.  For elections technology in New York, time doesn’t seem to pass: it just is.

I do have a question about the legality of the move.  HAVA offered funds for jurisdictions to replace their punch card and lever voting systems.  States that took the funds, as a condition on those funds, had to ensure that “all of the punch card voting systems or lever voting systems” in precincts where those systems were used in 2000 would be replaced by either 2004 or 2006.  (42 USC 15302(a)(3))  New York took more than $49 million in federal funds to replace its lever machines.

So … is the thought that HAVA requires that lever machines be replaced (in states taking the money), but doesn’t prohibit bringing them back?