The county commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase an ExpressPoll system from Election Systems & Software.
The hardware, software and services will cost a combined $271,525, with an additional $27,000 needed for the software license and support over four years. The cost will be covered by grant money.
Getting the system will enable the county to replace its sign-in books with electronic tablets at all of its polling locations.
“It’s going to make it more efficient for our poll workers,” Commissioner Irv Kimmel Jr. said during a telephone interview after the meeting.
The county still needs to purchase the poll pads and then prepare them for use, so Tina Pritts, Somerset County's director of voter registration and elections, does not expect them to be ready in time for the May 20 primary.
But when they are in use, Pritts thinks the tablets will help the voting process in multiple ways, she said.
“I think it will benefit the poll workers as far as even locating voters in the book,” Pritts said during a telephone conversation. “And voters who aren’t in the book, the forms that are in the book that sometimes the voters need to complete, everything will be right there in the poll pad.
“One other benefit will be that we will be uploading all the information from the entire county on each poll pad. Only the voters from that precinct will be able to sign and vote. But if a voter goes to the incorrect precinct, their information will be there too and each poll worker can direct them to the correct precinct, which should cut down on some phone calls into our office on Election Day.”
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