A new system to process registration at voting polls will be rolled out for early voting next week.
The El Paso County Elections Department has been holding trainings for its 260 poll workers ahead of the May runoff election.
The new “Poll Pad” system was tested out during early voting at the El Paso County Courthouse for the primary election in March.
The new system speeds up registration through an IPad, which scans a voter’s identification and processes the information electronically. The machine also provides a receipt of where the voter voted and for what party.
“When we’re doing this there’s a lot of forms and stuff that with the other way we’d have to remember we needed,” said Brenda Walton, whose been working the polls for six years. “For myself it’s exciting to see the changes that are going on and that we’re keeping up with other big places.”
The Poll Pad is only for registration purposes and will not replace the screen ballot. However, plans for replacing those screens are in the near future.
“The plan is to not only introduce and deploy the Poll Pad system, which is now new, but hopefully by November beginning next year 2019, said Melissa Rosales, Elections Information and Resources Coordinator for the county. “W are going to have a new voting machine system which will be compatible with the poll pads.”
The Poll Pads are expected to be in place at all polling locations for the November Uniform Election.
