County looks at e-polling books

The Sweetwater County Clerk’s Office may update its polling machines in time for the 2016 election.

Sweetwater County Clerk Dale Davis said his office is looking at new electronic polling books to help streamline the process of looking up voter names and addresses. The e-polling books allow election judges to either search for the name and address of a voter quickly or scan a voter’s drivers license to instantly determine their voting precinct. Ultimately, the new polling books will allow for more efficient voter check-in, while reducing the amount of paper used in elections. Davis said the polling books were first introduced in Laramie County as part of a pilot project to determine their usefulness.

Currently, the county hasn’t committed funding to purchasing the new polling books. Davis estimates the cost of updating the polling books throughout the county at roughly $30,000, as each machine costs approximately $2,000 each. While there isn’t a fiscal commitment from the county yet, the election equipment is aging. The last upgrade to Sweetwater County’s election equipment took place 10 years ago. Davis said he hopes to start installing the new machines at random election sites in time for the 2016 election. However if new e-polling books are not purchased by that time, Davis said the equipment will need to be replaced at some point.

The new polling books comes after changes the Wyoming Legislature made to voting laws. Davis said the legislature approved the use of voting centers, which will allow a voter to vote anywhere within the county they reside in. A person living in Rock Springs, but working in Green River could vote at any Green River voting center. Davis said the e-polling books is the first step in moving the county towards operating voting centers.

The clerk’s office will host e-polling book open houses in Green River and Rock Springs to show the new technology later this week. In Green River, the open house takes place Thursday at the Sweetwater County Library from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. In Rock Springs, the open house will be hosted at the county’s health and human services building at 333 Broadway from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Davis said the open houses are geared towards election judges interested in learning more about the e-polling books and watch a live demonstration of the polling books in use.