Tuesday’s General
Election didn’t see as many headaches as in May when Porter County used
electronic poll books for the first time, but it was far from perfect,
according to Voters Registration Democrat Director Kathy Kozuszek.
The Election Board
arranged for its election equipment vendor Electronic Software and Systems
to provide more training to its poll workers this fall in an effort to
mitigate the reported confusion and frustration of the primary elections,
following the recommendations of a report conducted by the Indiana Secretary
of State’s Voting System Technical Oversight Program.
The Porter County
Council last week said it would like to hold a joint meeting, after the
election, with the County Commissioners and Election Board about how well
the new poll books operated in the Nov. 3 election. The Council is undecided
on whether to move forward with using the e-poll books in 2016 or go back to
using the traditional paper method.
Kozuszek told the
Tribune this morning that the election Tuesday went “okay,” but
contends that there “were no major improvements” with the e-poll books. She
didn’t give any specifics but said she would discuss the problems she saw
with the County Council at its joint meeting, which has not yet been
scheduled.
Porter Town
Clerk-Treasurer Carol Pomeroy, who reported lines of people at Porter Town
Hall walked away when the machines weren’t able to start on-time in the May
primary, said this morning that the Town Hall did not experience problems on
Tuesday.
Republican Voter
Registration Director Sundae Schoon reported things were “running smoothly”
at the Tribune’s deadline yesterday.
There was one
reported problem in Portage that was not related to the poll books, however.
Kozuszek said election workers at the Portage Public Library were able to
enter the building but unable to unlock the room that securely held the
election equipment.
Voters were
directed to vote at Portage City Hall until about 9 a.m. when the equipment
was ready.
As a result of the
snafu, Porter County Superior Court Judge William Alexa issued a court order
petitioned by the Porter County Democratic Central Committee for all voting
locations in Portage to stay open an extra hour.