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Lawrence County Will Vote At 1 Of 10 Voting Centers During Next Election

Last updated on Wednesday, October 4, 2017

(BEDFORD) - Lawrence County Clerk Billie Tumey told the commissioners Tuesday morning voters will now cast their votes at one of 10 voting centers.

During the last election, there were 25 voting sites, with some sites serving multiple precincts. With voting centers, votes will still be tallied based on precincts, but voters could visit any voting center in the county.

"The top priority was to find handicap accessible locations," Tumey says. "There is at least one site within a 5-mile radius of a township boundary."

The centers will be located at:

The centers will give voters more flexibility on Election Day because they will not be constrained to a specific polling location," Tumey added. "All machines will be programmed with all 40 precinct ballots. In the case of a municipal election they will be programmed for all city and town precinct ballots."

The next election will be held in May 2018.

Tumey says the voting centers will not affect early voting. Voters may vote by mail, absentee traveling board, at the Voter Registration Office 30 days prior to elections and at the Courthouse the two Saturdays prior to the election.

The voting centers are cost effective. Fewer workers will be need to staff the voting centers. The staffing cost for 40 precincts with 5 election workers at each site and the cost of meals is approximately $20,900 per election. The estimated cost of 10 Voting Centers with 5 to 7 workers is $6,140 per election.

Each Voting Center will have one inspector, two election judges (one from each party), two election clerks (one for each party) and centers with 8 or more machines may have two additional workers (one from each party).

Vote Center Procedures

Each voter will enter the center and provide his/her government issued ID to the Poll Clerks at the entrance of the center. The Poll Clerk will access the individual's voter profile via an e-poll book equipped with a scanner to read the voter ID card. The Poll Clerk will also have the ability to type in the voter's name to access the correct profile.

Once the voter's address has been verified through the e-poll book, as required by state statute, a label will then be printed and given to the Judge. The Judge will receive the printed label and proceed to the Infinity voting machine with the voter. The printed label will indicate which ballot the voter is to receive for their registered address. The Judge will then activate the Microvote Infinity voting machine and select the appropriate ballot in order to verify it with the voter. The voters will then proceed with voting on the machine in the same manner as always. The Judge will keep the printed label in an envelope which will serve as hard copy documentation (the poll list) that the voter has voted in addition to the electronic information. Both political parties will oversee the voting process. This includes voter check-in, placing voters on machines, printing off tall tapes, assisting poll watchers and returning all of the supplies at the end of Election Day.

Election Results

Election results will be tabulated in the Lawrence County Clerk's Voter Registration Office on Election Day. Absentee voting by mail and travel board will be processed by optical scan ballot. Satellite voting machines and the courthouse early voting machines will then be tallied. As Vote Centers close on Election Day and the machines arrive back at the courthouse, tally cards will be scanned for each machine and voters calculated. Election results will be tabulated by precinct totals and released to the party officials and the public in a timely manner.

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