TMCnet News
Craven takes delivery of new election machines [Sun Journal, New Bern, N.C.](Sun Journal (New Bern, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 22--Over the past week and ending Monday, the Craven County Board of Elections received the new election machines that will register and tally votes in the November election. The 80 new machines -- 40 DS200 tabulators and 40 AutoMark laptop ballot markers -- were "bought locally," said Meloni Wray, Craven County elections director. The machines, manufactured by Elections Systems and Software (ES&S) based in Nebraska, were purchased from Printelect on Trent Road in New Bern, ES&S's partner for North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. ES&S is the only company whose voting equipment has been approved by state officials for use in North Carolina. In Craven County, the new machines replace ES&S machines that are approaching 10 years old. "Everything delivered will be used Election Day and for One-Stop Voting as well," said Pete Azzole with elections board staff. Craven County precinct judges and officials will begin training on the new machines starting Sept. 29. "Our other equipment is going out of date," Wray said. "The M100 just had an upgraded module. They've been around for about 10 years and are getting ready to age out. But the iVotronic will not be allowed by law in 2018." The iVotronic is a direct record electronic voting machine that uses voters' fingertips with on-screen touch ballots. Innovative when introduced to electioneering, it required time-consuming individual programming and downloading of votes. Wray said the new AutoMark is now approved for assisting visual and hearing impaired voters, and is portable to accommodate curbside voting for others with disabilities. It will still have Braille and voice to allow disabled voters to vote independently. "It's easier to read as far as voters and precinct officials are concerned," she said. "It's an upgrade, but it will simply mark the ballot and print it out." The DS200 machines will count those ballots as it does the ballots of voters marking their choices on paper ballots in voting booths, she said. "That will make it easier on us as far as loading data into the machines," she said. "We'll just have to load the voice, but not the ballot coding. Precinct officials are just ecstatic. Now everyone's ballot goes in same machine. It will also be a lot faster for precinct officials bringing in the tally. "When machines come back, we only have to take results from DS200 and download," said Wray. "We should have the election results faster." She said the cost to purchase the 40 AutoMark and 40 DS200 machines came to $250,300. It was money that for years had been set aside in an ongoing capital expense account, which is left with a fund balance following the purchase. That was partly because Craven County got a $41,500 trade-in on the old machines, which still have some value because Craven is early in the transition among N.C. counties, she said. "Once those big counties start replacing their equipment, the market will be flooded and they won't be worth anything," Wray said. "That's one reason we went ahead and did it now. "I'm excited; we all are very excited with the new equipment. Going forward as elections go in North Carolina, we're taking advantage of changes and getting in on the front row." Looking ahead, Oct. 10 is the last day to register to vote. One Stop Voting starts Oct. 23 at five locations in Craven County. Requests for absentee by mail ballots must be at the elections board by Oct. 28. Sue Book can be reached at 252-635-5665. ___ (c)2014 the Sun Journal (New Bern, N.C.) Visit the Sun Journal (New Bern, N.C.) at http://www.newbernsj.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |