Trending
LISBON -- The Columbiana County Board of Elections is being provided $26,000 so it can obtain $109,000 from the state to switch to electronic pollbooks, but more funding may be needed in the future should the election board decide to replace its voting system equipment.
County commissioners last week agreed to transfer $26,000 in unappropriated funds to the elections board, which will serve as the matching funds needed to qualify for the $109,000 to cover the $135,000 cost.
The elections board voted in April to switch to e-pollbooks starting with the November election, a move being encouraged by the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted as a way to speed up the registration process on election day. Under the current system, those who show up on election day must sign the pollbook, with their signatures compared to what is on file.
With e-pollbooks, voters will hand over their driver's license to the poll worker, who will swipe it through an iPad outfitted with a card-reading device. The voter then provides their signature using a stylus or their finger. Those without a driver's license can provide another approved form of identification before signing in.
The change to e-books is being encouraged by Husted, which is why the state is offering to cover 85 percent of the cost. Ohio counties that have switched say it has reduced the average sign-in time to less than 30 seconds, which can be a significant benefit in big cities facing the prospect of long lines.
Elections board Director Adam Booth said it only made financial sense to take Husted up on his offer, and he thanked commissioners for providing the additional funding.
"We could have taken it out of our budget but that would have left us short," he said.
The contract is with the St. Louis-based KNOW iNK, which created the Poll Pad pollbook system using iPads.
Husted also wants counties to replace voting systems that are at least 10 years old and he has asked local officials to submit proposals by June 13 if interested. Booth said their paper ballot/optical scanner system is 12 years old and would cost $1.3 million to replace.
"If you told me the state wasn't going to give us money I would tell you we could make it work," he said of his system. "But if you're telling me that the state is willing to pay at least half the cost I'd be foolish to pass it up."
Booth intends to stick with the same system, which involves voters filling out paper ballots fed into a scanner that automatically tabulates the results. He also wants a replacement system in place by the November 2019 general election so the poll workers are completely comfortable with it by November 2020.
"I'd like to have two elections under my belt before we go into the presidential election," Booth said
The system consists of 87 scanners -- one for each polling place -- with 16 in reserve. Even though each one is tested one month prior to the election, Booth said they usually have five to 10 units that for whatever reason fail when turned on election day and need swapped out by his staff.
The county's voting system is through the Omaha-based Election Systems & Software. VR Systems, the elections software company reportedly hacked by Russia, is not used anywhere in Ohio.