How to waste tax dollars -- give them to the government

For the second time this year, the radio is playing ads from the new York Board of Elections explaining to voters how to use the new electronic voting method. I've voted with this method in Connecticut for the last few elections and it is quite easy. For those who do not understand how to use a pen to fill in a circle, the poll watchers can help. Nevertheless, the radio ads are a scream. I've listened to them and find them hard to follow. One only wonders how much money has been spent by the board of elections to air these confusing messages.

Today, there is more news out about the stellar efforts of the New York Board of Elections. The millions of paper ballots used for the electronic voting machines all state that to vote for a candidate, "fill in the oval above or next to the name of that candidate". The problem is that the ovals are below the names of the candidates, not above and not next to them. Since the ballots are one sheet of paper, it could not have been too difficult to proof read them. The Board of Elections, however, failed to do so. Now it says that it will put up signs at the polling places to correct the error. I know that New York politics is rough, but where did they get the folks at the board of elections -- from the "Your Intelligence is Too Damn High party"?