E-poll books will be used in this November’s Municipal General Election in Marshall County.
The county council Monday morning approved an additional appropriation for the purchase of 15 iPads at a cost of $35,010. The appropriation was advertised prior to the council’s unanimous approval. The iPads will be outfitted with the necessary software to be used for voters to sign in at the polls.
The use of the e-poll books at a polling site is intended to help speed up the sign-in process and reduce the cost of printing voter registration books. A voter’s Driver’s License is swiped into a reader that confirms the voter’s identity on the iPad screen. The voter then signs with a finger or iPad writing device. The poll worker can confirm that the Driver’s License signature matches the handwritten signature. The voter can also be manually put into the system. A receipt will print to show that the voter did sign in at the polls. Once that process is done, a legal ballot may be filled out and submitted.
Clerk Deb Vandemark told WKVI News that an agreement will need to be signed with KnowInk. The computer setup and training will be planned after that. She says there should be plenty of time for training for use in the Nov. 3 election.
