Secretary of State Mark Martin will provide an estimated $2.1 million worth of new voting equipment to five counties, his office announced Tuesday.
The five counties are Chicot, Cleveland, Jackson, Randolph and Washington. The counties are scheduled to receive the voting equipment and have it operational for the upcoming school elections in September, the Republican secretary of state said. They will join five other counties for which the state this year purchased new election equipment, at a cost of nearly $3 million.
The voting equipment will include new voting machines, tabulating machines and software.
The counties will use the Express Vote Universal Voting System, which is a touch-screen machine, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for Martin.
"You will insert a blank ballot, make your selections, it will print onto your ballot and then you will insert it into the tabulator. The tabulators are the ES&S DS200. They can scan the printed machine ballots as well as standard-sized paper ballots," Powell said.
The secretary of state's office assists counties with conducting elections, helps counties comply with federal election laws and oversees training on voting systems, according to its website.
The new equipment for Washington County is estimated to cost $1.19 million, while Randolph County's equipment is estimated at $318,504, Jackson County's at $268,769, Cleveland County's at $251,775 and Chicot County's at $96,109, Powell said.
Randolph County's touch-screen voting machines are about a decade old. County Clerk Rhonda Blevins said the new machines "are going to be a lot easier to use and the public will be excited as well."
"It is wonderful," she said.
Cleveland County Clerk Jimmy Cummings said, "I bet anybody can learn to operate it in a very short period of time."
Jennifer Price, election coordinator in Washington County, said the new equipment also will reduce paper costs substantially.
The new equipment from Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software was installed in Boone, Columbia, Garland and Sebastian counties in a pilot program for the March 1 primary and subsequent runoff elections. The equipment for those four counties cost a total of $2.54 million, Powell said.
Last month, Yell County was selected as the fifth county to participate in the program. It is expected to have its equipment in place for a special election in August. The equipment will cost about $433,000, Powell said.
"We have chosen a mix of counties of various sizes from each corner of the state," Martin said in a written statement.
"We believe that voters will prefer the new system once they have used it," he said. "This new technology will be more effective for both voters and poll workers by streamlining the process."
The new voting system for the 10 counties is being paid for through existing funds in the secretary of state's office, according to Martin.
"Through the county voting systems grant fund and through cost savings, we are able to provide this needed equipment without requesting additional tax dollars," he said.
Asked when the state's other counties will receive new voting equipment, Powell said, "We will not be funding any more counties this year."
"We hope to fund another round in 2017," he said. "We continue to seek additional funding to upgrade the rest of the state."
Metro on 05/25/2016