Eight days ago you should not have had to pull levers to vote for your candidates on Election Day. You should have been using either your fingers or a stylus on a computer screen to vote. As on so many issues, New York is still behind in meeting the federally-mandated requirements of the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

New York has failed miserably at meeting the standards set after the 2000 debacle in Florida, and it looks as if it might be two more election cycles before it addresses the problem. Last year, the United States Department of Justice sued New York over $221 million the state has already received and specifically for $49 million to replace the state's antiquated machines.

The New York State Board of Elections, as well as two governors and successive state legislatures all deserve the blame for not meeting the federal standards. For more than two years they have spun that it is not their fault or that the delay has allowed New York to learn from the mistakes of other states. Both lines fall into the category of “business as usual in Albany,” where excuses are the standard over action.

The failure to implement HAVA can be boiled down to two simple things: politics and failed leadership. Competing political agendas from both major political parties have helped New York fail to comply with federal legislation - Democrats see one set of policies benefiting their candidates and hurting opposing Republicans and vice versa.

All of this has led to the normal gridlock in Albany, all too familiar to New Yorkers. Instead of showing leadership and mandating a set of parameters, including approving specific technology and machines, Albany has left a great void in the process of HAVA compliance.

Without guidance, Albany would delegate the decisions about what new machines to purchase to each individual county Board of Elections. Many don't have the expertise or ability to pick what is the best technology or which machines to purchase. While there are not 62 types of machines or technology out there, the state's failure could allow for 62 different systems.

It is unlikely, even with some 10 months to go before next September's primaries, that New York will be able to be HAVA compliant - it looks, from an implementation point of view, it may not be until 2010 before New Yorkers won't be using the current machines that have been in service more than 40 years. Complicating matters is a lawsuit brought last week by a group of 150 voters against computerized voting.

If New York is to move forward with HAVA, which it should - and must - do, it is time for the State Board of Elections to show some leadership and pick a technology that works, and which machines comply with these standards to make elections more accessible to all.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com