Starke County is now a Vote Center county and with that comes new technology.
In April, the Starke County Election Board voted unanimously to move to a Vote Center election process. Although it was approved in a public meeting, Clerk Bernadette Welter Manuel said the move wasn’t publicized as much because she did not want to confuse voters in the June Primary Election as it was still precinct-style voting.
Now that the Vote Center plan has passed, Manuel asked the Starke County Council and Starke County Commissioners to purchase e-poll books. They would replace the traditional paper poll books and capture an electronic signature from the voter after a state- or government-issued ID is scanned into the e-poll book. It reportedly keeps down potential fraud issues.
Council President Dave Pearman noted that the payment of the requested 16 KNOWiNK e-poll books could be spread out over two years with no interest. The payment this year would be $22,055 out of the Cumulative Capital Development Fund and the second payment next year would be $22,000.
An additional appropriation for this year’s amount will be advertised and voted on during the council’s July meeting.
