NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law legislation that will permit villages that administer their own elections to continue to use lever voting machines in next week's elections. 

The measure was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck). 

"As villages throughout Westchester County prepare for local elections on March 15, government officials expressed concerns about shifting over to the new (optical scanning) technology. Many of the villages in my Senate district came to me because they did not think they would have access to the new voting machines and the time or funds to train their staff and test the machines properly before the upcoming elections," said Oppenheimer. 

Under the Federal Help America  Vote Act (HAVA) municipalities are required to use optically scanned ballots for all elections, including village elections. 

Said Oppenheimer, "Delaying implementation of current law for locally administered elections will result in significant cost savings" for the villages involved said the Senator.

Elections will be held in numerous Westchester County towns and villages on March 15 including Briarcliff Manor, Bronxville, Buchanan, Croton-on-Hudson, Elmsford, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington,Larchmont, Sleepy Hollow, Pelham, Pleasantville, Port Chester,Scarsdale, Tarrytown and Tuckahoe.