CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County voters will check in on electronic poll books beginning in November, using equipment from Tenex Software Solutions.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections unanimously approved the purchase on Tuesday, following a recommendation by director Pat McDonald and his staff at its meeting last month.
The board authorized officials to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the company, state and county, McDonald said in an email.
The board will buy 1,450 electronic poll books at a cost of $1.7 million. The state is footing the cost.
Electronic poll books will replace the large, paper rosters of registered voters at each voting location. The county plans to phase in the software during primary and special elections before launching them countywide in November.
The county has spent the last year and a half researching vendors, including finalists Tenex and KNOWiNK.
Last summer the board decided to delay the choice to allow for further testing and to see how the companies performed in the November presidential election in Ohio counties where they had contracts. KNOWiNK was in 18 counties and Tenex in three counties.
Equipment from Tenex had problems in 2015 in Hamilton County, where voters were wrongly told they weren’t registered. Problems included lack of training and equipment issues, according to a report sent to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
The Tenex problems were resolved and the March 2016 primary election went smoothly, Tenex president and CEO Ravi Kallem said in April.
Hamilton County officials have said the equipment worked well in the November election.
An e-poll book typically provides one or more of the following functions:
- Allows poll workers to look up voters from the entire county or state. This can reduce time spent checking in voters.
- Allows poll workers to easily redirect voters who are in the wrong location to the correct polling places.
- Scans a driver’s license to pull up a voter’s information, avoiding data entry errors.
- Notifies poll workers if a voter already voted absentee or during the early voting period.
- Allows voters to sign in electronically.
- Produces turnout numbers and lists of who voted.
- Uses a photo to verify a voter’s identity.
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