TMCnet News
New voting machines designed to help voters(The Walton Sun (Santa Rosa Beach, FL)(KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 19--Pete DeLea [email protected] SHEL— Board of Elections Director Debra Blanton holds up a memory card, a credit-card-sized device that will electronically hold all the votes cast from a precinct during the May 2 primary election. Mrs. Blanton provided a hands-on demonstration on new voting equipment Tuesday to Cleveland County poll workers. "It’s very important that precinct officials know how to set up the polls and assist voters better," said Mrs. Blanton. The new equipment was bought as part of a federal law requiring counties to comply with the Help America Voter Act (HAVA). The county received $396,000 in federal money to buy voting equipment from Election Systems & Software, the only business certified to provide election equipment in North Carolina. Grover Precinct Judge Deveron Helgeson said the new equipment will help voters. She had the opportunity to be one of the first county residents to test the new equipment during the Grover beer and wine referendum vote in early April. "I think it’s wonderful," said Mrs. Helgeson. "It’s easier to use and more efficient." During the demonstration, poll workers had the opportunity to practice working the Model 100 ballot counter and AutoMark Voter Assist Terminal. The AutoMARK has several features to help handicapped voters. An audio function allows blind voters to listen to candidate choices through headphones and a zoom feature allows voters with limited vision to increase the font size of each race. Mrs. Blanton said the county already had one blind person vote during early voting. She said the person was able to vote easily. "It allows blind people to vote independently," said Mrs. Blanton. The Model 100 allows voters to feed their paper ballot into the machine. The machine then scans it and will flag ballots that have too many votes. "The machine gives them a second chance if they have a lapse in memory," said Mrs. Blanton. Fallston Precinct Judge Marty Marshal said the equipment makes the voting process easier. "I really like it," said Marshal. "It’s going to be a lot simpler once we get use to it." |