NEWARK, N.J. - A state judge on Friday ruled that voting rights activists will have a chance to have an expert examine the programming of touch-screen voting machines they claim are unreliable and vulnerable to hackers, officials said.

The advocates said the decision is believed to be the first of its kind.

Superior Court Judge Linda R. Feinberg, sitting in Trenton, also dropped a May trial date on the reliability of the machines but said the trial should start by September.

The delay nearly assures that the outcome will be too late to change how millions of New Jerseyans vote in November's presidential election.

The judge is to decide if the state's 10,000 electronic voting machines should be scrapped, as the voting rights advocates contend. The state of New Jersey maintains the machines should continue to be used.

Friday's ruling pleased Irene Etkin Goldman, chair of the Coalition for Peace Action, one of the groups that have sued the state over the machines.

"The judge gave us the machines to have tested by our independent expert, and that's extraordinary and unique," Goldman said.

Her lawyer, Penny M. Venetis, said the ruling was an "important victory for the citizens of new Jersey who have a constitutional right to an accurate count of their vote."