Marion County Clerk Steve Fox has taken delivery of $438,695 in new voting equipment.
Fox made the plea in February for the county board to replace the old equipment that he had patched together for several years and feared would not make it through this year’s primary and general election.
Fox reports training has already started as they are on a tight timetable to get ready for the start of early voting on May 19th for the June primary election.
“We are just getting the first tutorials on how to use the new voting equipment. It’s going to be much easier setup and take down than we had with the old systems. The main thing is that only one machine tabulates the ballots. Where before you had 2 machines, 2 sets of tapes, lots of extra work making sure they are both working like they are supposed to. With running that down to one machine that actually does the tabulation that really significantly reduces the setup and takedown.”
Fox says those arriving at the polling place will still have choices on how they want to cast their vote.
“We still have the ability to vote by paper ballot and a touch screen vote that goes to a paper ballot that you can view it before it being tabulated or being counted. That’s some differences for the voters, but I think differences they will enjoy and like.”
Fox says the equipment operates very similar to the old machines so he doesn’t anticipate the election judges have any issues on learning the new equipment.
Fox says machines have been purchased for each of the county’s remaining 37 precincts after 11 were consolidated earlier this year by the county board.
New voting machines in the foyer of the courthouse. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
