The launch of Hamilton County’s new electronic voter sign-in system hit some snags Tuesday as voters and poll workers in several polling locations struggled with the technology. The trouble was severe enough in 10 of the county’s 364 polling places that workers had to resort to the old paper poll books to sign in voters. The problems were not isolated to those locations, however, as voters in several other spots around the county complained they were given provisional ballots when their names did not appear on the electronic registry. “That’s unacceptable,” said Joseph Brotzge, a Loveland man who voted provisionally after poll workers could not find his name at the polling place where he has voted for 30 years. “It tells me they did poor planning. This is not the type of experience one wants to have.” … Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said the problems were likely the result of human error, rather than the fault of the new technology. Husted, who stopped by one of the county’s busiest polling places in St. Bernard early Tuesday, said the new system is working well overall and voters are generally happy with it.
… Hamilton County is the first large county in the state to introduce the system, which is expected to be online in all 88 counties by the 2016 presidential election. The system does not change the way voters cast ballots, only the way they sign in when they reach their polling place.
Sherry Poland, the county’s director of elections, said the board of elections hopes to work out the kinks in an off-year election like this one, when voter turnout is lower, so the process goes as well as possible next year. “In the long run, it will make things run a lot smoother,” Poland said.
She said workers received three to four hours of training on the new system and the technology appeared to be working correctly, but some poll workers did not follow their training. She said some improperly entered names into the system or made other mistakes that slowed the process.
Read More Problems, delays at 10 polling stations.