Benefits of electronic poll books, according to the Board of Elections, include:
- Voters can verify their name and address while checking in and are able to see that information on the tablet
- Voters in a primary will be able to select which party's ballot they want on the screen, rather than telling an election official, making the voting process more private
- Voters in the wrong polling location can have turn-by-turn directions texted, emailed or printed for them to the correct location
- All voters, including provisional voters, can be checked in at one station
The commissioners balked a bit at the electronic poll book request a few weeks ago because they would have liked to take advantage of what might have been better pricing on a bulk order including both the poll books and voting machines. However if the Board of Elections didn’t have the poll books under contract by May 31 they would lose the state funding.
RELATED: County leaders balk at state funding rules
“I don’t like the state saying you have to use it or lose,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “I think if they are going to allocate that money, then if we have a plan to bundle that with something else, and it may be a year before we’re there, we should be allowed to do that.”
The poll books will be in use for the November election and if the state funding comes through and the commissioners approve, the voting machines could be in place for the May primary next year.
Board of Elections Deputy Director Jocelyn Bucaro said the state legislature also just introduced an appropriation for voting machines.
“The state legislature last week introduced an appropriation for funding the new equipment, I think its $82 million statewide and Butler County’s share would be about $2.5 million, if that passes as it was introduced,” Bucaro said.
The Board of Elections estimates it will cost about $4 million — but that estimate is five or six years years old and might be a bit off — to purchase about 1,500 new voting machines.
RELATED: Ohio wants to replace aging voting machines
State Sen. Frank LaRose, a Hudson Republican, said the voting machines are “the essential infrastructure of our democratic process” and he is proposing an 80/20 split with counties, similar to the poll books.
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