Suffolk Board of Elections will stop supplying voting machines to municipalities, school and fire districts

The Suffolk County Board of Elections will no longer provide voting machines for school district elections starting next year, potentially causing logistical and financial challenges ahead of May 2026 budget votes and trustee elections.

The board’s recent decision also extends to villages, fire districts and library districts, according to an Oct. 7 letter from BOE commissioners obtained by Newsday. The BOE’s revised policy follows the agency signing a $31.7 million contract in August with Election Systems & Software to purchase new ExpressVote XL touch screen voting machines that are slated for use in 2026.

The change affects the voting process for the districts and villages and will not alter how voters cast a ballot in primaries and the general election run by the BOE.

Democratic Commissioner John Alberts and newly appointed Republican Commissioner Erin McTiernan sent the letter to district and village clerks informing them of the decision and offering two options going forward: The districts can request a free transfer of current voting machines, or purchase or lease equipment from one of three vendors, including ES&S.

The commissioners wrote the decision came "after long and hard consideration," according to the letter, which adds the BOE will continue to "provide registration lists, labels, ballot boxes and phone service upon request."

The BOE commissioners did not respond to a request for comment Friday to further explain the reasoning behind the decision.

Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, which advocates on behalf of Long Island public schools, said the announcement came as a "surprise to us" and said it’ll be a challenge for districts since budgets for the 2025-26 school year are already set.

Vecchio said the financial impact will vary by district and "it’s hard to gauge right now."

"It shouldn’t be astronomical," he said in an interview. "But for some school districts, any increase in already approved budgets is going to require some work."

Typically, school districts would work with the BOE to get machines and the BOE would also dispatch inspectors to help monitor machines, Vecchio said. He said there was a "minimal" cost associated with that.

"Our goal is to make sure we minimize the impact, protect the integrity of the voting process with the machines so that there's minimal impact for the voters," Vecchio said.

The turnout for budget votes depends largely on the size of a district; Sachem and Smithtown, for example, can draw several thousand voters, while smaller districts like Shelter Island draw around 200, according to recent results.

Village elections are held in March or June, separate from traditional races contested in November.

East Hampton Village Administrator Marcos Baladron said he didn’t expect the change to have much impact on the village, which has a registered voter base of around 1,500 people. Turnout is typically small enough that it’s manageable to hand count ballots, he said.

"We do it all," he said. "The clerk’s office manages it all. It’s always been done that way so we’re not probably going to use a machine."

Decisions on how to proceed, whether it be to request a current BOE machine or purchase new equipment, are up to individual districts and villages, according to the BOE letter.

The BOE is offering villages and districts the option to acquire for free the 425 Dominion ImageCast Evolution voting machines in its inventory. The machines will be available on a "first come first serve basis" and then offered for sale to other counties, according to the letter.

Those machines have been purchased within the last five years and used in early voting locations, according to the letter. The older Dominion ImageCast Precinct voting machines "are past their useful life" and will not be made available.

The BOE is also offering metal privacy booths to villages and districts at no cost.

John Manzi Sr., a member of the Suffolk County Fire District Officers Association, said he was unaware of the change when asked on Friday. He said the fire districts already used paper ballots for uncontested elections. But he said it could be a "big burden" if the districts did not have voting machines for contested elections with higher turnout. A typically election draws around 100 to 200 votes, but some have reached nearly 1,500, he said.

Suffolk lawmakers earlier this year approved a resolution to allocate about $35 million toward the purchase of new voting machines.

Former Republican BOE Commissioner Betty Manzella signed a sales order agreement on Aug. 15 for the agency to purchase the ExpressVote XL machines, which can be used as soon as June 2026 for primaries, according to a copy of the contract obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

A lawsuit challenging New York State's certification of those machines remains ongoing.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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