KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Tablets Could Replace Signature Books At Polling Places

One of those old voting day traditions could be disappearing in Maricopa County. Tablets will soon be replacing those clunky old signature books at your local polling place. By November 2014, the Maricopa County elections office plans to replace thousands of those rosters with electronic tablets. Voters will have their voter’s I.D. card or driver’s license scanned to verify their information.

Deputy elections director Linda Weedon said on election day many voters show up at the wrong precinct and are forced to vote a provisional ballot. Often those end up not being counted because they were cast in the wrong precinct.. She said this should cut down on that problem.

"So we can put your address in, we can print off on a small printer of the new facility and the cross street and get you to the right place so your vote will count," Weedon said.

The tablets will have the information for all 724 precincts in the county. Weedon said instead of having to print six books for each precinct, data cards for each tablet can be loaded up, saving hundreds of hours of set up time. She said many hours will also be saved in post election audits and procedures. 

The initial price for the tablets will be about $3.5 million, with $1 million of that coming through a federal program.