Voters to use new iPad sign-in technology at June 5 primaries

Check-in at the June 5 election primaries is going to look a little different this year.

Rather than typical pen and paper, poll workers will use electronic poll books to check-in voters. The new system uses iPads with a barcode scanner, Shelby County Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister said, which will scan the voter’s driver’s license or ID and pull up their voter information, including their name, address and, in the case of run-off elections, which party they voted for in the primary. 

Legislation regarding crossover voting, Fuhrmeister said, led the county to start pursuing new voter technology. 

“If a voter voted in one of the party primaries, they could not crossover and vote in the other party’s runoff election,” Fuhrmeister said regarding the legislation. “So we really had to start keeping up with what party the voter voted for in the primary and make sure they didn’t cross over in the runoff.”

Voters can choose candidates from either party in the general election, regardless of their votes in the primary. This extra step in the primary, he said, was going to be a burden on poll workers, slow down check-in lines and lead to a potential for human error, so they pursued what technologies were available. 

After finding an electronic poll book option, the county used the new system at one voting precinct in 2016. This served as a test run, Fuhrmeister said, and it went better than expected.

“The voters and the poll workers were just really crazy about it,” Fuhrmeister said. “They just thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Initial concerns included training the poll workers on a new technology, but he said the program used for check-in is intuitive and volunteers were able to pick it up easily. And while sign-in will no longer use pen and paper, Fuhrmeister said polling places will continue to use paper ballots and the same voting machines people are used to seeing.

Instead of breaking down check-in by last name, polling locations will have the same number of lines as they have iPads, and voters can go to any line. After having their ID scanned by the iPad, the voter will confirm that the information on the screen is correct, the poll worker will confirm the photo matches the person receiving a ballot, and the voter will “sign” on the screen. They will get a small printed receipt, and the voter will exchange that for a paper ballot.

Fuhrmeister said they expect the check-in process to move more quickly with the use of these iPads. They expect to reduce the number of poll workers at that part of the process and instead increase the number of poll workers in the area where voters fill out their ballots.  

“I think that the voters are going to find that it’s really going to make the voting process easier for them,” Fuhrmeister said.

Communication between county officials and polling locations will also be simpler, he said. The iPads have a “central command” that connects to the probate office. While it does not show individual voters by name, the Chief Clerk will be able to check that all iPads are up and running on election day. She will also receive communications if there is an issue or shortage of supply at precincts.

“If an issue occurs at a precinct, they can basically text message the probate office,” Fuhrmeister said.

These problems could include anything from running short on ballots or pens to a security issue, he said, and can easily be sent to the probate office and then communicated with others around the county, including Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies who are patrolling the polling places.

“We can resolve any issues that come up more efficiently and more quickly,” he said.

If someone is at the wrong polling place, Fuhrmeister said the iPads can help in that instance as well. The voter information will include the proper polling location, and poll workers can inform voters of that address and provide directions through the new system, Fuhrmeister said.

The Shelby County Commission was very receptive to the new technology, Fuhrmeister said, even though it was not an “inexpensive item.” Initially, the county had concerns with the fact that there was state legislation regarding prevention of crossover voting, but no funding was provided to address those issues. Funding has since opened up, however, which Fuhrmeister said means “Shelby County is not going to take the [financial] hit that we originally thought we would.”

The bid price awarded by the commission in February was $171,000 for the necessary software and hardware. While there will be annual maintenance agreements to keep the systems up to date, Fuhrmeister said the hardware — meaning the iPads — is expected to last several years.

“These iPads are going to be used at election time, and then they’re stored in our secure election facility until the next election,” Fuhrmeister said. “So they don’t get nearly the use that my iPad or your iPad might on a daily basis.”