On Wednesday, the New York State Board of Elections voted to certify the new voting machine, ExpressVote XL, following a lengthy debate by the four-member panel. The move doesn’t mandate the use of the machines statewide, but certifies their use by county election officials if they decide to use them for future elections.

The approval comes despite concerns by Common Cause New York and other good government groups that the machines are “bad for the voters” because they don’t leave a verified paper trail and are potentially vulnerable to cyber hacking.

[I don’t have too many positions in common with Common Cause, but this is one of them. Votes should be cast on paper ballots, period. Minnesota, Florida, and other states use optical-scan technology that makes the process efficient and highly reliable, providing for fast and accurate results with paper ballots as a fallback in case of disputes. Touchscreen voting adds nothing and detracts significantly from reliability and redundancy. — Ed]