Voters from 63 communities in 11 Michigan counties heading to the booths on August 8th will notice new ballot counting machines. The new machines will be replacing ten-year-old equipment with new optical-scan voting systems. By November of 2018, all cities and townships in Michigan will have the new equipment that allows for faster processing and easier use for disabled voters. Secretary of State Ruth Johnson introduced the new voting machines in the Rochester Hills City Hall building on Wednesday morning, August 2. “The new state of the art machines and programming protect the integrity of our process to ensure every vote counts,” said Johnson.
In 2015, the process began to purchase new voting machines with a saved $30 million dollars from the Help America Vote Act as well as fundraising to gather an additional $10 million needed. All upfront costs for the machines and five years of service is covered.
The machines will be tested prior to use.
Each machine must show that they tabulate properly, explained Elections Director, Sally Williams. The process has machine security, software security and people security all the way through.
Full Article: Some Michigan communities to see new voting machines at their precincts | MLive.com.