By Jim O'Sullivan

Who says you can't reinvent the political machine?

It won't be a return to the days when James Michael Curley directed his ward captains to vote the graveyards, but this Election Day the City of Boston will unveil on Election Day a new way of casting ballots that will replace a system that dates back to the Rascal King's heydays.

As a means of complying with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, a federal law passed in the wake of complications in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, the city will use optical scanner machines to tabulate votes. The machines will be trotted out for the September 23 preliminary election, the first time since 1946 that the lever machines will not be used.

Instead of pulling levers matched up to their chosen candidates, voters will use pens to fill in ovals next to the candidates' names on a sheet of paper, a process that City Hall officials say is similar to those used in standardized testing for the state lottery. The voter then will feed the ballot into a light-sensitive machine.

Opponents of the new machines, including both of Dorchester's city councillors, have voiced concerns about the timing of their introduction and about their technology and cost issues.

Dorchester City Councillor Charles Yancey said he was upset that the new machines couldn't have waited until next year's presidential primary, and concerned that elderly and handicapped voters would be unable to adjust to the new system.

"I'm not pleased that they're being introduced with this election," Yancey told the Reporter. "Hopefully, the voters will not be intimidated by this change.

"Most people right now don't even know they're using the new machines when they go to the polls."

"I am happy that we're moving forward with new technology, but I'm very, very concerned that after all those years of those old, clunky machines, I still think we should have waited another year," said Maureen Feeney, Dorchester's other city councillor.

Jay Walsh, the City Hall official in charge of educating voters about the new machines, said the fall's city elections were a better time to introduce the machines because a heavier volume is expected for the March 2 Massachusetts presidential primary.

"We wanted to make sure that by the time the presidential election of 2004 rolled around, people were familiar with the technology," Walsh said.

"We compare it to going from an eight-track to a cassette player, instead of to a CD or something more advanced," said Atiya Dangleben, program coordinator of Boston VOTE. "You still have your music on the cassette, but you didn't go with the one with the most options for the City of Boston."

Dangleben called the optical scanners "a decent option," but said that her organization was concerned that the new system will not be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that disabled voters be able to cast secret ballots. Dangleben proposed touchscreen technology.

Feeney expressed the same concern, saying,"I just think that we're spending a lot of money on something that could be outdated very quickly."

Walsh said he thought disabled voters could vote secretly under the new system, which he said is equipped with magnifying and Braille equipment.

"We purchased the highest technology available that's been approved by the secretary of state," answered Walsh. The Help American Vote Act, which specifically bans punch card and lever voting machines, requires that the secretary of state approve the technology used by each municipality.

Feeney said Secretary of State William Galvin's office was not asked by the city to approve touchscreen technology.

Galvin's office did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

"It's a technology that's not new, but it's new to the City of Boston," Walsh said, noting that the optical scanner machines are the same as those that were used in a 1989 class officers election at Catholic Memorial, where he was then a student.

The machines underwent a test run last September during a special City Council election in Brighton, in which Jerry McDermott was chosen to fill the seat vacated by the death of Brian Honan. An elections department official said the voting was trouble-free. Walsh reported "very, very few problems."

According to Walsh, the Menino administration's recently increased outreach and education campaign is "not necessarily" a reaction to complaints from Boston VOTE and others that such a drive was slow in coming. Walsh said the effort is focused primarily on elderly voters, and said City Hall personnel are offering how-to-vote demonstrations across the city.