McDonald County is again reaching out to the technological age.
The judicial part of the county - the circuit clerk’s staff and the judges - has already announced the use of electronic devices in the office and on the bench. They plan to go paperless by August 2013, partially so by the first of the year.
It’s no secret the rest of the elected officials have been computerized for years.
Now the local election authority, County Clerk Barbara Williams and her deputy Bev Largent, who handles all things to do with elections, have decided tostep it up a notch.
As part of the Nov. 6 General Election, the clerk’s office will break in seven new computer tablet poll books. They will replace the hardbound versions that a voter was required to sign in prior to casting their ballot.
Largent said the new units will be placed at what is expected to be the busier precincts on election day, most of which are combined in some way.
Two will be on hand at the Anderson East and West precinct, two at the Pineville North and South precinct, one at Elk River East and West precinct and one at Elkhorn, where patrons from Elkhorn, Center and Richwood will vote. In each case, an election judge willbe stationed by the door to funnel voters to the table with the information from their prospective precinct.
Instead of fl ipping pages, the election judge will look you up on an electronic tablet pre-loaded with precinct voting rosters. The judge will then ask you to verify your information. Once that’s done, the voter will be asked to sign in on the tablet with a specially provided stylus.
They will then be handed a paper ballot. All voting for the General Election will all be done on paper.
Largent listed advantages of the new system.
“No labels,” she said. “No book. The labels were an issue twice. No printer. Electronic signatures are nowstate approved.”
She said that increased accuracy and the speed of voting are two advantages that should show dividends on election day, expected to be busy because of the presidential race.
She added that the tablets are much faster and easier to use than laptops that were sent to the voting sites in the past.
Largent said Williams discovered the method at the county clerk’s conference this year. Some vendors had their own versions, as was the case with E. A. Election Administrators, the company that has provided Palm Pilots.
The tablets came to the county through a $4,900 state grant.
Election judges are set for training Nov. 1 and use of thenew tablets will be introduced at that time.
News, Pages 5 on 10/25/2012