The demonstration, which is open to the public, will take place at Board of Elections headquarters, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 4 to 7 p.m.
The demonstration will include a mock election featuring new voting machine technology offered by a company known as Clear Ballot.
In a joint statement, Elections Commissioners John Quigley, a Republican, and Ashley Dittus, a Democrat, said the demonstration is part of research being done in an effort to purchase new voting machines.
The capital project was approved by the Ulster County Legislature as part of the 2022 budget and calls for $1.4 million to replace the current voting machines. The funding includes money from federal grants for the replacement of voting equipment, the commissioners said.
"We have not received any quotes yet from vendors, we are in the first stages of exploring the options on the market," the commissioners wrote in an email.
The legislature would need to agree to enter into an agreement with the vendor that the Board of Elections would recommend.
"The voting systems we are exploring have higher capacities for scanning ballots and are more easily maintained since components can be replaced piecemeal rather than replacing an entire, more expensive, unit," the commissioners said. "No matter what unit we end up going with the experience for the voter will remain unchanged, they will interact with and cast their vote on a paper ballot that is then scanned and tabulated."
Dittus and Quigley said the older voting machines need to be replaced.
"A majority of the fleet was purchased in 2009, when 103 of the new voting systems were deployed to poll sites in that year's November election to comply with federal laws that were amended after the 2000 Presidential Election," the commissioner said. "The Help America Vote Act required all states to replace the lever machines that were used in New York and elsewhere. Additional systems were then purchased in 2010 and 2012."
The commissioners said that not unlike many other counties who have the same systems, "we are experiencing general wear and tear which requires more fixes on election day when they are being used by voters."
Surrounding counties like Dutchess and Westchester recently purchased the newer model made by the same company, Dominion, the commissioners said. "We are expanding our search for replacement systems to include other companies, like Clear Ballot and HART."
The new machines will not be in place for this November's election.
"The existing fleet will not be replaced in time for this November's election, the earliest we would be able to deploy new equipment would be for next year's elections,' the commissioners said.
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