By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HELL'S KITCHEN — As politicians, activists and voters continue to raise concerns over the city's new voting machines ahead of Tuesday's primary, one woman is taking matters into her own hands.
Democratic District Leader Joan Paylo, who lives on the Upper West Side, told DNAinfo that she is planning on buying magnifying glasses to bring to each of her polling sites on Tuesday to help voters read the print on the new ballots, which many fear is too small, especially for seniors and those with poor vision.
"The people who’ve called me, they're scared," Paylo said. "The word is spreading: the print is small."
On Tuesday, the city will roll out its new fleet of optical scanner voting machines, which will replace the old traditional lever machines that had been in use since the 1960s.
With the new machines, voters fill out SAT-like paper ballots and then feed the sheets into scanners, which register their votes. But many are concerned that voters are still unprepared for what's in store for them and point to a number of lingering issues — including the small type.
"I'm just concerned that people are going to have problems," said Paylo, who got the idea of supplying the magnifiers after attending City Board of Election's public demonstrations of the new machines. "It's smaller than a phone book," she said of the font.
At first, she considered borrowing magnifying glasses from banks, but was worried about their logos. Then Paylo searched the Internet for discount magnifiers. In the end, she said, she planned to buy what she could find at local stores.
Jean Green Dorsey, chairman of the Westgate Tenants' Association on the Upper West Side, said she, too, has joked about asking voters to bring magnifying devices to the polls.
"It's an excellent idea," she said. "For people whose eyesight is not what it used to be, I can't imagine it not being an issue."
At one of the city's final public voting machine demonstrations in Hell's Kitchen on Sunday, the small print size was the first thing that many participants noticed.
"You gotta be kidding me! I gotta walk around with a magnifying glass," said Upper East Sider Alan Miller, 64, as he took his first look at a mock ballot.
"It's very small," echoed other members of the audience.
Peter Short, 74, who lives in Queens, said he likes the new machines in general but is concerned about the type.
"I don't wear glasses but I think the print is too small," he said.
City Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez said that each polling booth will come equipped with a sheet of magnifying paper, which voters can hold over their ballots to enlarge the type.
Larger instructions will also be posted on the walls of polling sites, poll workers said.
But voters at the demonstration found that the magnifying paper made little difference, especially on the super-small font used to outline the ballot instructions.
"This isn't going to help," said Miller, frustrated after testing out both sides of the sheet and moving it closer and farther from the text.
Paylo said that the situation at the polls will be even worse because of low lighting and the fact that handling by hundreds of people will leave the sheets scratched.
Hell's Kitchen resident Alice Chernick, 65, who volunteers at a seniors' center nearby, said staff members there are particularly worried about how seniors will fare, not only with the small type, but also having to face electronic machines for the first time.
"I don’t think it's going to work. It's confusing to people," she said. "I think a lot of people will be intimidated."
Despite the change to the new machines, Paylo remained optimistic that sailing would be smooth.
"It's not going to be as bad as the butterfly ballot," Paylo said, referring to the controversial ballots used in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. "Everything's going to be fine."
