Declaring “this is no way for us to run our elections,” Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas says Connecticut’s optical scan machines that tabulate votes are “unreliable and unserviceable.” The company that crafted the machines in use for more than a decade is out of business so replacement parts are scarce.
Testifying before a key legislative finance committee, Thomas, Connecticut’s chief elections official, requested $25 million in bonding funds to purchase new ballot tabulators for use in all of Connecticut’s municipalities.
“The current tabulators in use were purchased well over a decade ago and have since exceeded their useful life. As many of you are likely aware, these machines have become unreliable and unserviceable. From frequent jamming, to weather-related issues caused by rain and heat, to their antiquated technology, election officials struggle each election to process ballots efficiently.”
The Yankee Institute’s Meghan Portfolio has more
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The tabulator technology is dated and there are frequent issues with tabulators getting jammed if ballots have any moisture on them when they’re put into the machine. Parts have also been known to melt due to high heat. Secretary Thomas recalled that in her own election in 2018 results from one polling place were delayed due to wet ballots seizing up machines resulting in officials having to do a manual count.
… Thomas said “If you speak to town clerks and registrars of voters, they are well aware of how these machines are failing at a regular clip in different ways. Just because of how long they’ve been in use.”
… The company that produces these machines has gone out of business resulting in a lack of replacements. The state has tried purchasing old machines from other places and has gone so far as to bid on them on eBay.
The state’s current plan is to purchase 3000 new machines, along with secure ballot boxes. This would also require the purchase of additional ink cartridges, software licensing, delivery and installation. The office is also proposing the purchase of 10 high-speed and 30 medium-speed tabulating machines to assist with the end-of-the-night counting of absentee ballots on election day.
The high-speed machines will enable municipalities to quickly process large stacks of ballots as well as enable them to handle absentee ballots that are folded when received by the town clerk–clerks currently experience issues with machines jamming when they are fed with folded paper.
Full story here.
