NORWICH – It’s still a matter of legal interpretation. Even after a second look at a New York State Board of Elections regulation about storing voting machines, Chenango County Attorney Richard L. Breslin remains the only county attorney in the state to say the responsibility remains at the town level.

“We are the only county that hasn’t interpreted the law as the state says it reads,” Republican Elections Commissioner Harriet Jenkins said.

Breslin was unavailable to comment for this article.

His directive leaves Chenango County’s elections commissioners in limbo. Delivery of the newly-mandated, handicapped-accessible machines has already begun, with two currently housed in the Board of Elections offices. The remaining 45 could arrive at any time, and are headed for temporary storage in a training room at the Chenango County Public Safety Facility.

Chenango County Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren has said he doesn’t want the machines stored at the new jail on Upper Ravine Road indefinitely. “It was never our intention to keep them,” he told Safety and Rules Committee Chairman Alton B. Doyle, R-Guilford, last week.