Ronica Shannon
Madison County’s primary election in May will run a little differently than in years past, and the new twist on voting is actually a step back in time.
Madison Judge-Executive Kent Clark gave three simple reasons during last week’s fiscal court meeting as to why voters will like the paper-ballot voting system, which is the same process that was used before electronic voting machines became mainstream.
“It’s quicker, it’s easier and it’s honest,” Clark said. “If there are any questions (about voting results for certain precincts), the boxes are unlocked and the paper ballots are counted. There are no computer glitches.”
The change in the common voting process comes on the heels of extreme electronic breakthroughs that recently have been implemented to make voting faster, more private and accurate, said Billy Gabbard, Madison County Clerk.
“They (electronic voting machines) have become too complicated for a lot of people to use, and so they’re looking, as other states are, to going back to the paper ballot,” Clark said.
The Madison Fiscal Court was approved last spring for $256,000 in federal funding to purchase the paper-ballot scanners.
When using the paper ballot form of voting, the voter will go into a small cubicle area to fill out their ballot. This process calls for tables, privacy dividers and chairs to be set up at each voting location, rather than just having precinct booths where voters enter their election choices electronically, Gabbard said.
Each voting precinct will have two tables set up with all materials needed to cast a paper ballot vote. This setup will allow multiple people to vote at the same time, rather than one person going into an electronic booth while others wait their turn.
“It will eliminate a lot of the lines at the (voting) polls,” Clark said.
A large number of the new paper-ballot voting booths also will be handicapped accessible, Gabbard said.
Another perk to the paper-ballot voting system is that it will allow citizens to see the votes as they come in precinct-by-precinct, rather than waiting until all votes are totaled for each precinct.
After the May primary polls close, a running tally of precinct-by-precinct results will be displayed on the county’s public access channel, as well as on a monitor in the fiscal court chambers of the Madison County Courthouse, Clark said.
The League of Women Voters of Berea and Madison County have been long-time supporters of the paper ballot system, and are willing to help educate the public about the change in the voting process.
“The league has really pushed this and they’re willing to get out there (in the community),” Clark said.
League representatives will partner with employees of the county clerk’s office to bring paper-ballot voting demonstrations to several Richmond locations, including T.J. Maxx, Walmart and Kroger.
The community training should begin in March so that voters will be comfortable with the process in time for the May primary elections, Gabbard said.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.
