WINFIELD - Putnam County voters will be using new machines to cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm election.
The county received 158 new electronic touch-screen voting machines and 50 electronic ballot boxes in June to be used for the 2018 election.
The new machines will replace the county's former "optical scan" system, according to County Clerk Brian Wood. Optical scan ballots were paper ballots that voters filled out by hand before placing them into a ballot box.
Putnam County has previously had one touch-screen voting machine per precinct to remain complaint to the ADA and the Help America Vote Act. However, 2018 will mark the first election where all 46 precincts use electronic machines, Wood said.
"It's the best of both worlds," he said. "You get a ballot stock in your hand. You take the stock and put it in the machine. You vote on the machine, but then it prints out what's on your ballot.
"You can verify that the machine put what you voted and that you didn't miss-hit something on the machine," Wood said. "If you did that you could always spoil your ballot and start another one if you need to."
The new machines have headphone jacks for visually impaired voters, feature larger font than paper ballots, have zoom capabilities and the screens can be changed to black and white for color blind voters. Voters also have the chance to switch between screens and go back and "change their minds," he said.
Once a voter casts their ballot, the machine will print out a receipt that verifies their ballot. Voters will be asked to review and verify their ballot before a poll worker scans the ballot into one of the new ballot boxes.
The ballot box will scan the ballot, which will allow election officials to count ballots quicker, Wood said.
"We'll use it to count the ballot. Before, you were here until like 3 in the morning because we were scanning all the ballots and things like that," Wood said. "Hopefully in 2018 we'll get the results out really quick. For those skeptics, we can always go to the paper and verify."
Wood said the ballots can also be counted during the statewide canvas after Election Day, before results are certified.
The new machines will not be used in the October special election, but could be used in early voting for the election, Wood said.
Larger precincts will also receive new metal voting booths - designed specifically for the new machines. Each booth is portable and has partitions between machines for voter privacy.
Wood is still trying to work out some logistics to get the new machines and voting booths to and from each precinct, but said the capability of getting quicker results makes the challenges worthwhile.
"I'm excited about it," Wood said. "We've got some challenges about how to deliver them in trucks and things. These aren't going to fit in the trunk of your car. So, we've got some logistics to figure out to make sure it goes smoothly. But at the end of the day on Election Day, it'll definitely be worthwhile when the quicker results come out."
Kanawha County voters recently got the same type of machines and will use them for the midterm election, Wood said.
Reach Carlee Lammers at Carlee.Lammers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1230 or follow @CarleeLammers on Twitter.