Delta County gets new vote tabulating equipment
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ESCANABA -- The next time voters in Delta County head to the polls, they will be able to use new voting equipment. The county began receiving the equipment Tuesday.
According to Delta County Clerk Nancy Kolich, Delta County is far from the only county in the area that will be getting new voting equipment this year.
"Every county in the state of Michigan is receiving new election equipment," she said.
Kolich said the timing of the initiative is ideal for Delta County. The county's voting equipment had begun to develop some mechanical issues, including problems with ballots becoming jammed.
"It was 10 years old, and it was just getting worn out," she said of the county's voting equipment. Despite this, she noted this equipment still tabulated ballots accurately and had no security issues to speak of.
Delta County will receive a total of 27 new tabulators and ballot boxes, along with ADA equipment for people with visual and physical disabilities. The county and cities in the county have already received their new voting equipment.
"The equipment will be used for the November city elections for Escanaba and Gladstone," Kolich said. These elections will take place on Nov. 7.
City election workers in Delta County will begin learning how to use the equipment well before November arrives.
"We will be training the city election workers on the new equipment on Sept. 29," Kolich said.
Area townships will receive their new voting equipment next year.
"They don't have an election until August," Kolich said.
Kolich said the county's new voting equipment cost an estimated total of $233,000. However, the county will not have to pay for the equipment.
"It's being paid for through a grant from the state of Michigan," she said.
Though the county's new voting equipment is more technologically advanced and secure than the equipment it will replace, Kolich said that -- as the new equipment still optically scans paper ballots -- the voting process should still be familiar to people who have voted in Delta County in the past.
"The equipment is very similar to the equipment that the voters are used to using," she said.
Using paper ballots can also be helpful if the results of an election in the area are disputed.
"That will give us a paper trail for recounts," Kolich said.
Kolich said she and other people involved in local government are glad to have this opportunity to update their voting equipment.
"We're all excited to have the new equipment, and (we) look forward to the training and implementation," she said.