Delaware County will be using new voting machines this year and the League of Women Voters held a brief demonstration on the units in Concord Township Monday.
It’s actually a two-part system. Voters fill out paper ballots at a table with privacy barriers using pens provided at the polls. They then take their paper ballot and insert it into the machine. It doesn’t matter whether the ballot is inserted face up or face down, according to League volunteers giving the demonstration.
The machine records the vote but feeds the paper ballot into a locked box. The paper ballot is kept as a backup should the tally be challenged.
The new system also allows voters to change their minds or redo a vote if they made a mistake. If voters catch their own error, they can tell a poll worker who will put the “soiled” ballot in a separate lockbox and the voter can go back to the table with a fresh ballot and start again.
Each paper ballot is barcoded and can only be used at that specific voting precinct. For the primary election, ballots will also be marked with a D or an R for Democrat and Republican voters.
This year’s primary is April 28 and voters have until April 13 to register. Registration deadline for the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 19.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
