So what's happening with all the old lever voting booths? Last week, it turns out, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that allows for use of the old-style voting machines, as well as special elections such as those for library and fire districts. The law was heralded for the ways in which it will save money for villages by exempting them from use of the county-owned electronic ballot scanners. Governor Cuomo has signed into law a measure that will allow villages that administer their own village elections to use lever voting machines, rather than the new optical scan voting systems, until the end of 2012. This law was needed to ensure that these villages can transition to the new voting systems in a fair and orderly manner. "We must ensure that there are orderly elections at all levels of government," Cuomo said in a February 28 press release about the bill. "This measure makes sure that villages can properly carry out their local elections and gives them the extra time they need to transition to the new voting system." "The law reflects a narrowly tailored solution to immediate and significant problems faced by villages. Specifically, the law provides only a temporary exemption to Election Law § 15-114," the release goes on to note. "The law does not apply to the administration of any federal elections covered by HAVA or to village elections administered by a county board of elections. In August 2010, an exemption allowing the use of lever machines was granted to school districts for their elections. The new law is in effect only through the end of 2012.