If New Hampshire allows electronic check-in at polling places, replacing ballot clerks drawing lines through voter names in printed books with people touching icons on computer tablet screens, it will be due in part to one unlikely motivation: the alphabet. “There’s nothing more frustrating to a voter than standing in line because your name starts with the letters A to D, but the M-to-Z check-in line is empty. … This eliminates that,” said Rob Rock, the director of elections for Rhode Island, describing his state’s experience with what are known as electronic poll books. Speed and convenience, both for voters and for polling-place workers, were big selling points Friday as vendors of five companies that make e-poll books pitched their wares to state and local election officials in the Legislative Office Building.
The event came days before a public hearing on a Senate bill allowing towns to upgrade their polling-place tech.
In most e-polling systems, for example, a voter can check in just by scanning the barcode on their driver’s license, then pushing the “OK” button if the correct identification comes up on the screen. This takes a few seconds, as compared to having a ballot clerk hunt through a list of voters and then draw a line through the person’s name, as is required by state law. And since all the tablets have all voters, there’s no need to divide up registration lines by letters of the alphabet.
Full Article: As N.H. considers letting towns upgrade polling tech, vendors show off wares in Concord.