Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Official reports some progress with epoll books

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

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.

 

 

Posted 11/4/2015

 
 
 
 

 

 

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