When New York voters cast their election ballots today, it is supposed to mark the last time they use mechanical lever machines.

Over the next few months, the New York City Board of Elections will have the formidable task of complying with the Help America Vote Act, which requires that updated voting machines be installed for the 2007 elections.

With many states already using varying types of the new machines in today's election, the New York City Board of Elections, which has created an evaluation team, will no doubt be looking around the country to help determine a game plan for next year.

The board has already faced criticism for its failure to implement the voting machines for this election, but some experts say the delay could actually pay off.

"I think on one side of the coin, it's a good thing that we're not the guinea pigs," the executive director of the Citizens Union and the Citizens Union Foundation, Dick Dadey, said.

New York failed to meet the deadline imposed for the Help America Vote Act, and was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit called for the New York City Board of Elections to implement a token amount of disabled voting machines for 2006 and to be fully compliant with all new voting machines for 2007.

The board plans to hold a public referendum on voting machines next week. Four vendors will make presentations at La Guardia Community College in Queens and Hustos Community College in the Bronx where the public and commissioners for the board can test the proposed voting machines, a spokeswoman for the New York City Board of Elections, Valerie Vazquez, said.