As a county elections commissioner, I watched the delayed Albany County Legislature elections that took place in April as a result of court-ordered redistricting.

Because these were the only elections held at that time, we had a chance to watch the process of counting and challenging ballots on a small, but very public, scale.

Now just imagine that instead of only "paper ballots" -such as absentee, affidavit and emergency-being subject to challenge, every vote cast on every machine could be challenged. This is the very real future of voting in New York state if the Legislature requires a "paper trail" for electronic voting machines.

Every election would have the potential to be challenged. Boards of elections could-and in many situations would-be required to do a full recount of all machine paper (every machine vote cast) any time a candidate didn't like the outcome of an election.

If we allow millions of machine ballots (for a national or state office) to be subject to challenge, we will open a Pandora's box that can never be closed.

We will create voter anxiety when there need not be any.

A paper trail requirement would increase the potential for machine breakdown and a recanvass requirement would create greater potential for human error.

How many times, for example, should we recount to decide the correct number of votes cast if the machine number differs from recanvass by county board of elections staff? Should two human teams recanvass the same machine until they come up with a matching set of numbers to be sure the machine is incorrect?

Right now, once a machine vote is cast, it is exempt from challenge. That's why voters prefer voting on a machine to using an absentee ballot and will go to great lengths to vote at their local polling locations even if it interferes with work or vacation plans.

The more human contact required in the process, the more potential for human error or abuse and voter distrust.

In addition, the paper verifiable machine does not have a system to allow the visually impaired to verify their choices, so they would be treated differently from sighted people, a violation of the Americans for Disabilities Act that would open the door to federal lawsuits and the revocation of federal funds available under the Help America Vote Act.

Electronic machines are in use today in Saratoga, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties. Towns in each of these counties have been "electronic" and "paperless," except for opening and closing sheets-which show at the start of the day that no votes have been cast and at the end of the day how many have been cast-for more than 10 years. Election commissioners and town clerks in these counties report they are very happy with their electronic machines and have never had a problem.

A paper trail for electronic machines would make Florida look like a picnic. Why are we creating an aura of distrust where none should exist? These machines are trustworthy and have more than 10 years of voting history in New York state to prove it.

The electronic machines are "stand alone" machines. These machines are not linked to any other system or the Internet. They cannot be hacked into. With the correct legislation, they would be in the exclusive care, custody and control of each county board of election.

We can only hope that the state Legislature will take all of this information into consideration before passing legislation that will have a great impact on each of us who vote and the type of system we use to vote.