Sebastian County is poised to test new voting equipment for the state by letting county voters use it in the March 1 primaries. The Sebastian County Election Commission and county officials unveiled Tuesday the 250 voting machines, 54 tabulators and 94 digital poll books that will be set up in the county’s 41 polling places March 1 and in three early voting sites. Early voting begins Tuesday and runs through Feb. 29. For the past 10 years, voters in Sebastian County have had the option of voting on now-obsolete electronic machines or by paper ballot, Election Commission Chairman David Damron said. Both will be replaced by equipment the Arkansas secretary of state’s office bought from Omaha, Neb.-based Electronic Systems & Software for testing in Sebastian, Boone, Columbia and Garland counties.
… The Arkansas secretary of state’s office bought 167 of the voting machines and other election equipment for $986,815 as part of the equipment test for Sebastian County. With 167 machines, Brooks said, the county would have had to continue to use some paper ballots.
The election commission wanted to convert fully to electronic voting, for which the county needed another 83 machines. The Sebastian County Quorum Court voted in August to transfer $150,000 from the county clerk’s recorder fund and $235,561 from the general reserve to buy the additional machinery.
Full Article: Updated election machines unveiled | NWADG.