ALLEN, Texas — Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell described Ohio's first large-scale use of modern voting systems as a great success. "It was a great day for Ohio voters. More than 15,000 new voting machines were used by nearly one million voters today and we were overwhelmed with positive reports," he said. "As with all large-scale rollouts of new technology, there were a few isolated slow starts. However, election officials identified problems and resolved them quickly so voters could cast their ballots with confidence and efficiency." The Diebold AccuVote system was deployed in 41 Ohio counties, which included 4,100 voting precincts.
"We were extremely pleased with the ease of use of the system, which was especially important considering this was the first time the system was used by poll workers and voters throughout Lorain County (Ohio)," said Marilyn Jacobcik, director of elections for the Lorain County Board of Elections. "The performance of the Diebold system exceeded our expectations." In addition to the ease of use mentioned by voters, election officials highlighted that voters with disabilities were able to use the features of the new systems to vote without assistance, ensuring the privacy that all voters expect and deserve.
In Ohio and Utah, voters had an opportunity to verify their vote on paper prior to casting their ballot through a voter verified paper audit trail printer integrated on the machine. The Diebold AccuVote-TSX can be equipped with a federally qualified paper audit printer that, in addition to the system's standard summary screen, can provide an additional level of candidate selection review for voters. Diebold's Ohio installation is the largest deployment of touchscreen voting stations with voter-verifiable paper audit trail printers in the country.
In addition to Ohio and Utah's successful rollout of touchscreen units, voters in Georgia and Virginia experienced a streamlined election process through the use of the new Diebold ExpressPoll electronic poll book that automated and streamlined the check-in process at voting locations. The ExpressPoll-4000 units were used in conjunction with Diebold's touchscreen voting technology to further enhance the voting experience of poll workers and voters alike. Use of the ExpressPoll can reduce provisional voting as it enables a poll worker to immediately identify within which precinct a registered voter should vote, as the unit can contain the voter registration file for the entire jurisdiction.
