The company that made the city’s controversial new voting machines claims it has a solution to the city’s looming election crisis: Pay the company more money. The city Board of Elections has warned that the mayoral primary election this fall could turn disastrous if no candidate wins at least 40 percent of the vote. State law requires the city to hold a runoff election two weeks after the primary but the board says it needs more time to reset the new ballot scanners. The company that made the scanners, Elections Systems & Software, has now stepped up with an offer to save the day — and get a big check. It offered to send a team of its own consultants and technicians to help pull off the two-week turnaround.
“From an equipment and management standpoint, we believe there is a way to manage it within the time period,” said ES&S government affairs director Russ Klenet. “Honestly, you’d have to really work. You’d have to be organized, efficient.”
He couldn’t put a dollar figure on his emergency voting machine services, saying the Board of Elections brushed him off before he could negotiate a price.
After an aggressive lobbying campaign, the company was tapped in 2010 to sell 6,500 new machines to the city for $52 million.
Full Article: Voting machine firm says it can prevent disaster during city’s upcoming mayoral election — for a fee – NY Daily News.