New technology to help W. Va. County voters. to get the correct ballots

(TNS) — For this year’s general election, early voters in Kanawha County will use new technology to speed up the voting process, and County Clerk Vera McCormick is expecting a big turnout.

Early voting runs from Wednesday, October 23 to Saturday, November 2 at nine locations across the county.

ELECTRONIC BOOKSTORE

An electronic voting notebook, which looks like an iPad, is expected to speed up the process of finding and registering voters at early voting sites. A small printer will produce the correct ballot for the voter, rather than the poll worker having to generate that information. This technology is expected to be especially useful in primaries, when poll workers must also select which party ballot the voter receives.During early voting, voters in any precinct can go anywhere, but their ballot must still belong to their precinct.

The device won’t be needed for Election Day itself, because each precinct will only have their assigned voter records, according to Kanawha County Commissioner Marc Slotnick.

The information on the tablet comes from the West Virginia Voter Registration System. You are not connected to the Internet.

The equipment is manufactured by Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Nebraska. ES&S also manufactures Kanawha County vote tabulators and voting machines. ES&S serves about 1,700 county-level jurisdictions in 40 states and Washington, DC, according to Katina Granger, the company’s senior director of public relations.

The equipment was purchased with a grant.

EQUIPMENT TEST RESULT

McCormick and his staff demonstrated the new process Wednesday during the public test of the voting equipment.

It was determined that all candidates could receive—or not receive—a vote. The equipment was then wiped clean of all votes and the tabulation room was closed.

McCormick emphasized the security of Kanawha County elections, thanks to the system’s “checks and balances.” For each vote counted by the vote tabulator, there will be a ballot in a ballot box so that the numbers can be compared, if necessary.

“I think we have good election laws in West Virginia,” McCormick said. “You don’t hear a lot of trouble in West Virginia because as long as you do what the code says, you’re fine.”

Another test of the machinery will take place before election day, November 5, and before the counting of votes.

GREAT PARTICIPATION IS EXPECTED

McCormick said he expects a large general election turnout of about 70 percent of the county’s registered voters. The participation in the primaries was 30%.

About 2,000 absentee ballots were sent. Around 800 have been returned.

Absentee ballots must be requested by October 30 and must be framed on Election Day. Learn more and download the app at bit.ly/WVAbsentee.

McCormick said people have been calling to ask when they can vote.

“I think we’re going to have a great turnout for this one,” he said.

Since the primary, 2,500 new voters have registered in Kanawha County, turning the county red for the first time in years. As of August 1, Republican registered voters outnumbered Democrats by 212.

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