The county election bureau plans to purchase new electronic poll books to use in the Nov. 7 election. The poll book system the county purchased in 2018 from Election Systems & Software, known as ES&S, has reached the end of its useful life, bureau officials said.
The vendors at Thursday's demo were ES&S, based in Omaha, Nebraska, and KnowInk LLC, based in St. Louis, Missouri. They responded to a request for proposals the county issued earlier this year.
Voters sign in on poll books, which poll workers can use to verify information such as whether voters are at the correct voting location.
At the courthouse rotunda, lines formed in front of tables that displayed the two poll book systems, both based on a touchscreen device that resembles a tablet computer.
Joe Passarella, regional sales manager for ES&S, said his company's Express Poll system is a big improvement over the ES&S system the county used in recent elections.
It is more secure, more streamlined and will experience fewer battery issues, Passarella said. Faulty batteries were the main complaint with the poll books used in the county's May 16 primary.
Across the rotunda, Dan Peters, senior manager of professional services for KnowInk, showed off his company's Poll Pad system, based on Apple's iPad tablet.
The system will speed up the process for voters and poll workers, with a target time of "30 seconds from check-in," Peters said.
John Coymen and Pat Tokash, poll workers from Hazleton, traveled to Wilkes-Barre to see the proposed poll book systems first-hand. They first examined the ES&S system.
"It seems to be more user-friendly," Tokash said. "The information you need to look for is right there."
Coymen said he was happy to hear the promise of improved battery performance, since his polling site had battery issues with ES&S poll books in a recent election.
Members of county council and the volunteer citizen election board examined both systems.
Election board member Audrey Serniak said she was happy with the turnout for the demonstration. She said she heard members of the public offer "lots of good feedback" to representatives of both vendors.
The ES&S proposal was for $431,290 while the KnowInk proposal was for $437,300. The poll book system the county purchased in 2018 cost slightly less than $325,000.
The election bureau plans to use a portion of a state election integrity grant to pay for one of the two systems, said Jennifer Pecora, head of the county administrative services division.
Many of those who attended the demonstration filled out an electronic feedback survey designed by acting Deputy Election Director Emily Cook.
Bureau officials will take the feedback into consideration, Cook and Pecora said.
© 2023 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
