The DOJ had filed a lawsuit in federal court on March 1, charging that the state was not in compliance with HAVA. The statute dictates that each state create a database of eligible voters and that every voting precinct in the country have at least one handicapped-accessible e-voting machine.

The federal legislation called for a Jan. 1, 2006, compliance deadline.

On March 23, the U.S. District Court in Albany ordered that the state come up with a plan for adhering to the law.

The plan submitted to the court by the New York State Board of Elections creates a set of milestones for completing testing, training, procurement and other processes required to install handicapped-accessible e-voting systems and for building a voter database.

The plan also includes a pledge that the New York elections board will acquire and certify handicapped-accessible voting devices in time for the Sept. 12 primary election. Currently, the state uses mostly lever-activated machines.