Starke County will be getting 20 printers for its voting machines under a new state requirement.
The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail is required beginning in 2029 to help verify the voter’s ballot prior to leaving the polling site. A printer will be connected to a voting machine to sit in the back of the voting booth on Election Day.
Microvote Representative Steve Shamo previously explained to government leaders that prior to casting the voter’s final vote the voter will see a paper printout of the choices he or she made to confirm that there’s “interaction between paper and machine.”
The Secretary of State will be buying a few of the printers for every county in the state. Using a prototyping board, they were able to test machine prototypes to ensure the results were secure and no unexpected glitches could occur that could affect the voting count. These machines will eventually help streamline the process considerably. For now, they will be used to accommodate absentee voting, but every machine will have one by 2029. At that time, the county could possibly make a different choice concerning voting machines.
Clerk Bernadette Welter-Manuel said 20 printers will be given to the county at no cost.
