Voting equipment on display in Garfield County

Clear Ballot demonstrations take place in Glenwood Springs May 16, and in Rifle May 17

PRESS RELEASE
May 11, 2018

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – Garfield County is demonstrating new voting equipment to the public in both Glenwood Springs and Rifle next week. Voters can check out Clear Ballot’s ClearVote system and familiarize themselves with the new equipment, which is versatile and accessible for all users. The Clear Ballot voting system will be presented as a 2019 budget request to the Board of County Commissioners; if approved, this equipment will be used for 2019 elections.

The demonstrations take place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 16, in the Board of County Commissioners meeting room, 108 8th Street, in Glenwood Springs; and from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, May 17, in the first floor conference room at the Garfield County Administration Building in Rifle, 195 West 14th Street, Building D.

ClearVote (version 1.4) is federal U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) certified, and designed in a manner that, in the case of close elections, results can be audited quickly and accurately. The Clear Ballot voting system was also certified for use in Colorado by the Colorado Secretary of State in December 2017.

The paper-based voting system creates a digitally scanned ballot, which is reviewed for accuracy, and then quickly tallies results. The accessible portion of the system can be operated on any touch-screen device, allowing voters to cast ballots at a Voter Service and Polling Center (VSPC), and have them quickly converted to a paper ballot. For mail-in ballots, ClearVote helps election judges assess voter intent by analyzing the marks on the ballot.

After assessing the two state-certified voting systems, Garfield County Clerk and Recorder Jean Alberico said the ClearVote system allows local clerk’s offices to design their own ballots in house, and to send an extract to a local printer for ballot printing. Then the mail ballot judges prep the ballot packets for mailing, meaning the election process is done entirely at the local level.

“After participating with seven other counties that piloted four different voting systems in 2015, and comparing the two voting systems that are currently certified for use in Colorado, my staff and I like ClearVote, and want to show that product off to the public,” she said. “I like that the ballot-marking device used to provide persons with disabilities an option to vote unaided at a Voter Service and Polling Center, produces a ballot that looks just like everyone else’s ballot.”