TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind (WLFI)—Tippecanoe County is looking to get new polling machines in 2021.
“I’ve been getting so many phone calls from a lot of people with questions,” said Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush.
She’s been asked questions about how Tippecanoe County is preparing for election season.
“I just basically wanted them to be able to feel free, to come to me in a very informal way to talk about their issues,” said Roush.
Roush said the State of Indiana just passed legislation requiring that any new election equipment purchased include a voter-verifiable paper trail. This method is different than what Tippecanoe County uses today.
“Today it’s just an electronic. Your vote on there,” said Roush. “You can use your finger or a stylist and you hit on the person that you want. It gives you a summary page, you hit submit and it gets put on a memory card.”
A voter-verifiable paper trail would give the voter a receipt detailing their submission as proof.
“We constantly have to come up with secure measures to make sure no one could tamper with any of our equipment,” said Roush.
Voter Zachary Baiel says while he’s for the new equipment, he’s still skeptical.
“How do I know the paper trail in the machine matches the paper trail given to the voter,” said Baiel
Baiel says if these machines work correctly, this will be a move in the right direction.
“The voter, in theory, should have boosted confidence that, hey what I put in the machine came out of the machine at least on my receipt,” said Baiel
Roush says right now, the county is working to make sure they are prepared for election season.
“What is Tippecanoe County voters needing and what works efficiently, cost-effective, and security,” said Roush. “It has got to be secure.”
The county will receive new e-poll books this fall. These systems allow election officials to review and maintain voter registration information.
