Tag Archives: ElectionSource

City, county clerks report issues, but quick solutions after voting equipment change

Voters went to the polls in Kent County Nov. 7 with new voting equipment and systems in place. (Supplied)

 

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

It is not that the Kent County Clerk’s office, or city clerks in both the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood, were expecting issues with the county’s new election equipment in the system’s debut Nov. 7 — an election dominated by local millage requests and city elections of little controversy.

 

But the election day did produce the as-expected small voter turnout while also revealing a few issues with the new equipment now easily remedied before elections of more state and national interest, and higher voter volume, come in 2018.

 

“Any time there is a transition as large as this — the first change in equipment and learned practices and procedures in over a decade — there are going to be challenges and areas to improve upon,” Robert Macomber, Chief Deputy County Clerk, said to WKTV Friday, slightly more than a week after the recent voting day, and after that day’s meeting between the county clerk’s office and local city clerks. “This ‘off-year’ election offered the county a tremendous opportunity to implement the changes when turnout was smaller, but still having elections in a large number of precincts and varying size of municipalities.”

 

Vote turnout was small, with only 11.2 percent of Wyoming’s 49,658 registered voters doing so, and 12.8 percent of Kentwood’s 35,178 registered voters doing so.

 

The voting system issues exposed on Nov. 7 were also small, according to Macomber, City of Wyoming City Clerk Kelli VandenBerg, and City of Kentwood City Clerk Dan Kasunic — most notably delays in reporting results from the precinct level to the county level, and inability of some voters to use new “adaptive” ballot marking devices.

 

Voting machines in the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood looked similar to ones voters were used to. (Supplied)

After more than a year review and selection process, Kent County Clerk and Register of Deeds Lisa Posthumus Lyons early this year selected Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. as the vendor for Kent County’s new election equipment and local firm ElectionSource for associated software. The plan for the new voting machines was to have them used by all voting bodies in Kent County starting with the November election.

 

Some clerks across the state planned to use their new machines at the August 2017 election, and all municipalities are required to have the new machines in place by the August 2018 election.

 

Some experiences familiar, some were new

 

It appears the new machines — which still feature individual manual voting cards and stand-alone tabulators not connected to the internet — worked as expected and it was pretty much the same voter experience as with the old equipment. But a new system by which precinct totals are uploaded to a new county-controlled interactive precinct map experienced some delays, and, at least in Wyoming, special needs voters experienced some issues.

 

“Anytime you have change, there will be some reconciliation between what you expect to happen and what actually happens,” VandenBerg said to WKTV. “The equipment is new, but the concept or function of the new equipment is essentially the same.  I think our poll workers responded very well and I did not receive any complaints from voters.

 

Kent County’s new voting machines operated much like the ones the public is familiar with — and they are never connected to the internet. (Supplied)

“For the average voter who marks and casts a ballot in the tabulator, I doubt their experience differed from previous elections. For voters using the adaptive equipment  — ballot marking device, the difference would have been more notable. I am aware of a couple of instances where the selections made by voters or poll workers did not enable the audio on the adaptive devices. Based on required testing before each election, I know the audio works and so I know this is a topic that we will spend more time on in future trainings.

 

VandenBerg said she has “shared some recommendations (with the county on the issue) … but also have some training strategies in mind if those recommendations cannot be incorporated.”

 

In Kentwood, Kasunic also saw and dealt with a few small issues.

 

“As with any new equipment, it is expected to have some challenges, all of which were dealt with quickly and without any interruption of the election process,” he said to WKTV. “All of these have been addressed with the state, county and vendor.”

 

Kasunic added that he thought “all of the reporting went better than we thought, with a couple slowdowns because we have new equipment and procedures.”

 

Those “slowdowns” in reporting are probably getting the most attention by the clerks.

 

“One area that I thought might be problematic was the transmission of results at the end of election night,” VandenBerg said. “This equipment allows each precinct to modem results directly to Kent County and only 2 of Wyoming’s 26 tabulators were unable to modem results. Neither was the result of equipment failure, but rather an oversight by the poll workers adapting to a new process. In these cases, each (local) clerk has been provided equipment to allow for the transmission of results and I did so within a few minutes of receiving the necessary information from the precinct.”

 

New county system for rapid reporting of results

 

The changes to reporting are part of a new county system of quickly getting results out the public as well as to county, state and — eventually — federal officials.

 

“Election night reporting is the area where we’ve made the most noticeable change to the public,” Macomber said. “In previous elections, Kent County voters would often not have access to complete results in some instances until midnight, and that data was in non-interactive form. With our new equipment, the precincts modem the results to the county and on election night we had our first results within minutes of the polls closing.”

 

The new reporting system allows for public access through an interactive, map-based reporting feature developed by ElectionSource and accessible via the county’s website: accesskent.com.

 

“For this past election we unveiled an initial version, with the fully-functional version being ready for 2018’s elections,” Macomber said. “The public response to the faster, user friendly reporting feature has been very positive.”

 

But, VandenBerg added, it is not just night-of reporting which should be looked at: “I do think there is room for improvement on the reporting side, especially as it relates to canvassing and archival purposes. …  I have shared some recommendations on that as well.”

 

And, Kasunic also advocated for a reporting tweak: “The county is working with the vendor to add features to the reporting to provide percentage of turnout of voters on election night.”

 

The lessons learned from the Nov. 7 election, and the results of the meeting with local clerks, will likely lead to some changes at the county level.

 

“This election provided the county and local clerks the ability to implement and identify the ways our internal procedures and controls conform to — or are challenged by — the new system,” Macomber said. “Where there were challenges, we’ll be working with our vendors, the state elections bureau, and our local clerks to implement changes that ensure consistency, security, and transparency.”

 

Kent County selects new voting machines; plans roll-out by November

Kent County will have new voting machines in place by wall of this year. (Supplied)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

Kent County, and the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood, will have new voting machines in place by later this year as part of a Michigan state-wide upgrade of voting machines — and City of Wyoming clerk Kelli VandenBerg says she is pleased with the selection process and anticipates local voters will be pleased with their new experience.

 

Voting machines in the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood will look similar to ones the public is used to, but they will be more “user friendly”. (Supplied)

“Any resident who has voted in the precinct will notice that this is new equipment – but that doesn’t mean there will be a steep learning curve or longer lines at the polls,” VandenBerg said in an interview with WKTV. “One of the key aspects in selecting this particular vendor is that the technology is much improved over our old equipment. This equipment is also much more user friendly.”

 

After a months-long review and selection process, and after the State of Michigan approved three qualified vendors, Kent County Clerk and Register of Deeds Lisa Posthumus Lyons recently announced Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. as the vendor of choice for Kent County’s purchase of new election equipment.

 

According to a press release from the county clerk’s office , the new voting machines will first be used by all local voting bodies in Kent County starting with the November 2017 election. Some clerks across the state reportedly plan to use their new machines as early as the August 2017 election. All municipalities are required to have the new machines in place by the August 2018 election.

 

“My priority for Kent County’s new election system is to provide high quality equipment, the assurance of security, and a positive experience for the voter; each of the systems we considered would accomplish this in unique ways,” Lyons said in supplied material. “At the end of the day, my decision came down to the reliability and customer service for which Dominion is known, and its partnership with ElectionSource, an election services provider located right here in Kent County, which also has a proven track record for first class service.”

 

Lyons said here decision was based on input from local municipal clerks; improved features of the machines and software, including election-night result reporting for the public; high-speed absentee ballot-counting capabilities for local jurisdictions; and overall cost. Working with a local vender was also high on her list.

 

“We are supporting our local economy by working with a business located in our own back yard,” Lyons said in the press release.

 

“Kent County is very fortunate that our Elections Director (Susan deSteiguer) was involved in the committee that did the review,” Wyoming clerk VandenBerg told WKTV. “We also have our new County Clerk with Lisa Posthumus Lyons (involved). I understand her process was very thorough — she took a lot of notes and asked a lot of great questions. Kent County was well-represented in the selection process, and I am very comfortable with how we chose the new equipment.”