NY voters get new ballots for Tuesday’s primary _ and reading glasses for the tiny print

New ballots bring new challenges in New York

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are bracing for potential problems when the state rolls out new voting machines in Tuesday’s primary.

After 80 years of voting in a curtained booth, New Yorkers will fill out paper ballots that will be run through an optical scanner.

The change was made to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. HAVA was passed after the contested close presidential vote in 2000 to make voting simpler and easier.

But that might be wishful thinking in New York, where almost nothing is simple.

The paper ballots are going to be so crowded with multiple candidates and languages, voters will be offered reading glasses.

And the new system doesn’t adequately prevent voting for more than one candidate per office.