FACT SHEET

PRECINCT-BASED OPTICAL SCAN VOTING

 

 

GENERAL:  Optical scan technology has be= en around for decades (remember filling in the circles on the SRA tests?).  It has been used for elections for= over 30 years.  Precinct-based tabu= lation of optical scan ballots has become popular more recently as election administrators wanted faster results.  The system’s ability to notify a voter immediately if they’ve under-voted or over-voted their ballot satisfies federally-mandated standards called “second chance” voting, required in the Help America Vote Act.

 

HOW IT WORKS:=  After going through the usual verification and sign-in procedures at the polling place, voters receive an optical scan ballot and marking device (pen or pencil).  In the voting booth they make their choices by completing an arrow next to their selection.  When the ballot is completed, the = voter inserts it into a scanning machine (there will be one at each precinct).  Properly marked ballots are accept= ed, tabulated and deposited in a locked box below the scanning device.  If the machine detects an over-vote (both “yes” and “no” are marked) or an under-vote (neither choice is marked) the ballot is rejected and a print-out notifies = the voter of the problem, giving the voter a “second chance” to do = it right.  When the polls close, = the precinct election judges print out vote totals s= tored in the memory of the scanning device and bring the results to the courthous= e, along with the voted ballots from their precinct.

 

THE BIDDING PROCESS:  The Greene County Purchasing Department issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on June 24, 2005= .  Two sealed responses to the RFP we= re opened on July 1= 2, 2005.  The contract was awarded on July 25, 2005.<= /p>

 

MANUFACTURER:=   The system we purchased is an = Optech Insight machine made by Sequoia Voting Systems= of Oakland, CA, and represented locally by the Elkins-Swy= ers Company.  Elkins-Swyers has worked with Greene County on its elect= ion needs for more than thirty years.  These devices were tested in several precincts in two small election= s in the county (June 2004 and February 2005) earning high marks from voters and= election judges who were surveyed.

 

THE PRICE TAG:  <= /span>  To help pay for the new v= oting system, Greene County will receive over $390,000 from a federal grant, mone= y appropriated from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).  The initial purchase of the equipm= ent totals $600,000.  The County w= ill cover the remaining $210,000 from the Clerk’s custodial accounts ($20= 0,000) and appropriated general revenue ($10,000). 

 

WHY ARE WE CHANGING SYSTEMS?  Following the 2000 Presidential Election, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act which set new guidelines for voting equipment and provided funds to replace punch card and lever vot= ing systems.  The replacement mone= y is only available to states and counties who replaced their old systems by January 1, 200= 6.  HAVA<= /st1:stockticker> also made a number of other sweeping changes—requiring handicapped-accessible voting devices at every polling place and a statewide voter registration data base, to name a few.

 

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