Monroe County is in the process of changing over all of its voting machines to new models.
This is a $12 million project that the county began planning some years ago. There will be about 1,000 new voting machines, made by a Nebraska-based company, Election Systems and Software. The machine model is called the ExpressVote XL.
Republican Monroe County Elections Commissioner Peter Elder noted these machines have a touch screen, but they also copy everything onto a paper ballot. He said the new machines will provide better accessibility for people with vision problems.
“So it's an all-in-one machine,” Elder said. “People who do not need accessibility options, there is no change there. They can come in and use it. People who do have accessibility options, they don't have to choose which machine they're going to use. And the technology is decades ahead of the machine we have currently, because it is a newer unit.”
Democratic Monroe County Elections Commissioner Jackie Ortiz said the commissioners also met with key individuals and organizations to make sure these machines will be appropriate for the county.
“We reviewed information from major stakeholders such as disability rights advocates, visited neighboring states, with the Express XLs to see them in action, live for an election, both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” said Ortiz.
Here is a demonstration video of the new machines from the vendor:
Ortiz and Elder both said the new machines should help speed up the voting process at the polling sites.
“You’ll see the average voter gets on one of these and votes within 80 seconds, and so you’ll have anyone who is as low as 20 seconds to someone who might be a minute-and-a-half, and somewhere in-between,” said Ortiz.
The local elections commissioners and an official with the voting machine company stress that the new machines are still extremely secure. They noted that there are rigorous security protocols to protect against potential threats.
Elder said each voting machine will have seals, just like the current machines, “so we can track them through a chain of custody.”
The new voting machines will be rolled out starting with the village elections in March, and then be in use for the June primaries and the November general election.