On October 3, the New York State Board of Elections said it will ask the federal government to let it use old-fashioned lever mechanical voting machines in 2008. The federal government had required states to replace them by 2006, but had reluctantly permitted New York to use them in 2007. New York state is the only state that still uses them.

New York’s historic combination of mechanical voting machines, combined with a party column or party row ballot format, plus a discriminatory law on which parties get the best columns or rows, has disadvantaged minor political parties and independent candidates for more than 100 years.