Elex Board big tripped up by report

The director of the city's beleaguered Board of Elections failed to properly report several swanky trips funded by the company that manufactures the city's problem-plagued voting machines.

New York City has doled out at least $43 million to Election Systems and Software over the past decade for its frequently-on-the-fritz ballot scanners and other machines — and the Board of Elections often defends the faulty contraptions.

That loyalty is under scrutiny after NY1 revealed Monday that Michael Ryan (photo), the head of the board, failed to accurately report multiple trips he made as a member of the company's “National Customer Advisory Board.” Ryan has stayed in high-end hotels and dined on sushi across the country thanks to Election Systems and Software.

He did not properly log the trips with the city Conflicts of Interest Board, omitting several of them on annual financial disclosure forms, according to NY1. The board chalked up the discrepancies to a clerical error that's been rectified, a spokeswoman told the Daily News.

NY1 reported that Ryan traveled nine times on Election Systems' dime to a number of cities including Las Vegas; Charleston, S.C., and Fort Lauderdale between 2014 and this year. However, his financial disclosure forms initially only stated he went to Omaha and Buffalo. Each trip cost between $1,000 and $4,999, according to financial disclosure forms obtained by The News.

Ryan received approval from the Conflicts of Interest Board to serve on the voting machine company's advisory panel in 2014. Emails reviewed by The News on Tuesday show the conflicts board determined no waiver was required for the travel. The Elections Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.