Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation allowing New York City to keep using mechanical voting machines in this year’s primary and runoff elections.

City primaries are scheduled Sept. 10 for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough presidents and city council.

To comply with federal law, the state switched in 2010 to optical scanners that read paper ballots.

The new law says the city Board of Elections will use the new machines, but has the option of using the old ones if needed to make sure voting and vote counts go smoothly.

The board has said it may not have enough time to reset the new machines for the primary and runoff.

The measure also shifts runoffs from Sept. 24th to Oct. 1 to avoid conflicting with the Jewish holiday Sukkos.

(AP)