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Person County Board of Elections members began their search
for new voting machines Tuesday in Raleigh.
The trip to view new machines became a necessity recently
when Person County Board of Elections Director Brenda Whitlow
was notified that Person County’s ballot-counting machines
had been decertified by the North Carolina Board of Elections
and must be replaced.
Whitlow told The Courier-Times Friday that some of the questions
the local board of elections had were answered Tuesday, but
that there is still much to discuss and learn.
"We still don't know for sure what kind of machine that
we are going to go with," Whitlow said. "And, we
have not been [quoted] any prices yet. [The state board of
elections] is supposed to tell us some prices next week,"
she said.
What Whitlow did know, however, is that Person County will
likely continue to use a machine similar to the Optech III
optical scan machine that has been used in the county for
several years.
"We're going to go with an optical scan machine of some
type," Whitlow said. "We don't know which company
we are going to use, but we want to continue to use that type
of machine."
Whitlow said the county elections board made that decision
because Personians are familiar with that style machine.
"People here know that machine and know how it works,"
Whitlow said. "And, those machines have served us well."
Person County is one of more than 80 North Carolina counties
that must replace voting machines before the 2006 primary
elections in May.
Whitlow has said that she will need about 20 new machines
to replace the equipment she now has. But the number likely
go higher if the county were to choose another type of machine,
such as a touch screen model.
The state elections board has set a Jan. 20 deadline for
counties to select voting machines.
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Roxboro
- Courier.com © Copyright 2007 The Roxboro Courier Times