The state Board of Elections approved use of four additional devices for voting and counting ballots in South Dakota and adopted an assortment of small rule changes Thursday for the 2016 elections. The four types of machines are products from Elections Systems and Software, a company based in Omaha, Neb. They include a basic counting device, a high-speed tabulating device, the company’s version of an AutoMARK machine for persons with disabilities, and the company’s ExpressVote Universal Voting machine that also can be used by persons with disabilities. Election officials from the South Dakota Secretary of State office tested the four machines as required under state law and state regulations. “That was an all-day process and it was very thorough,” Secretary of State Shantel Krebs said.
The state board’s approval is necessary for counties to use a specific device.
“I do think they pass fine and should be recommended to the counties,” Brandon Johnson, the office’s Help America Vote Act coordinator, told the state board.
The four board members participating in the meeting voted in favor of approval.
Full Article: State elections panel OKs new technology | Rapid City Journal.