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New Electronic Poll Books Make Voting Quicker New Electronic Poll Books make a quicker process

By Josh Liepper

(Track 1)

LIEPPER: Early voting is not the only new process being established this election year. New electronic poll books have replaced the old paper ones in Onondaga County. Elections Commissioner, Dustin Czarny explains the change.

CZARNY: “So we need an electronic poll book that will print a ballot on demand for them at those sites and also be able to talk to our other electronic poll books and let them know that they’ve already voted so nobody can vote twice.”

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LIEPPER: With early voting ending Sunday and the general election approaching; Czarny says they have no time for paper poll books.

CZARNY: “We have to be ready for our general election at 6 AM on Tuesday. There’s no conceivable way that we could print up 450 poll books and get them distributed to the 180 sites that we have for election day so having electronic poll books with instant downloads is going to save us thousands in man hours and tens of thousands of costs.”

(Track 3)

LIEPPER: These are what the electronic poll books are coming in. Czarny says that they can accomplish a lot.

CZARNY: “To add value to the experience for the voters. They’re going to be able to go to any poll book in a poll site and be able to vote. If it’s their poll site on election day; instead of trying to find their table. I think it’s going to make the lines go quicker and the process go a lot smoother.”

(Track 4)

LIEPPER: Voters came in today at the Southwest Community Center. One of them: Emily Singletary believes the new process will be successful.

SINGLETARY: “It seemed to go very smoothly. There weren’t any glitches with the system or anything. As far as I could tell, it really went as quickly as the system I’m used to.”

(Track 5)

Josh Liepper… NCC News

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Electronic poll books are the newest addition along with early voting during this election year in Onondaga County. This is the first time ever that the county will be using these. Dustin Czarny, Elections Commissioner, says that the reason for bringing in these poll books is because of early voting. Also, these poll books provide a quicker way to sign in and are not involved in the actual vote.

The electronic poll books are replacing the old paper ones and have many positive aspects to them. This includes being able to communicate with one another so that nobody votes twice and printing out receipts to give to voters.

When the voters get that receipt, they then scan it and a ballot comes out.

With the poll books also comes instant downloads, less working hours and it also costs less according to Czarny.

Czarny says, “We hope that this transition will make it easier and quicker for voters.”

There was no way and no time for the Board of Elections to print out close to 450 paper poll books. With technology use increasing every day, the time for electronic poll books couldn’t be more appropriate.

In addition, Czarny wants to add value and a different experience for the voters.

One of those voters, Emily Singletary, thought the process went swimmingly without any problems.

“Compared to past years, this process definitely went more smoothly,” Singletary said.

Both early voting and the new electronic poll books have provided benefits for Singletary. A last minute change will force Singletary to be out of town on Election Day.

“I am very happy they implemented this so I could vote early.”

The poll books will not only be used during early voting, but they will also be used during the general election as well. Early voting ends on Sunday and the general election begins on Tuesday.

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