Published: July 08, 2008 11:51 pm            

Boyd residents will vote on new machines

Federal grant to pay for eScan equipment, which leaves paper trail

Catlettsburg — Boyd County residents will cast their presidential votes on brand-new machines come November.

The Boyd County Fiscal Court on Tuesday authorized County Clerk Debbie Jones to advertise for bids on eScan voting machines for each of the county’s 47 precincts.

The cost of the machines — expected to be about $4,500 each, or $211,500 total — will be covered by a federal grant administered by the Kentucky Board of Elections, Jones said.

The eScan machines will replace the Diebold 1242 models the county has been using for a number of years. However, Jones said the county will retain the eSlate machines currently being used because those devices are handicapped accessible.

The major difference between eScan and the other machines is that it uses a paper ballot, a practice that Jones said is expected to become mandatory in the commonwealth in the not-too-distant future.

The machine works like this: The voter marks his or her choices on a paper ballot, which is then fed into the machine. The machine scans the votes and records them electronically. The ballots are deposited into the machine, where they serve as receipts that can be checked later against the electronic record.

Questions have arisen in recent years about votes cast on electronic machines because those devices don’t leave a paper trail. The main purpose in going back to paper ballots is to help safeguard against possible errors, fraud and abuse, Jones said.

The eScan machines are being used in seven Kentucky counties, Jones said.

Jones has one of the eScan machines set up in her office for demonstration purposes. She said that machine will be used in the Aug. 19 special election, where residents of the Garner precinct will vote on the limited sale of alcohol at the Sandy Creek Golf Course.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

        

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