Richland County Goes Low-Tech in an Effort to (Finally) Get it Right
[Image courtesy of richlandonline]
Over the last few years, Richland County, SC has developed an unfortunate reputation for election problems – first stemming from equipment breakdowns and long lines in 2012 and continuing with missed ballots in 2013.
Now, the county’s third election director in as many years is taking steps that he hopes will get the voting process in Richland back on track. WISTV-10 has more:
Samuel Selph, the interim director of the Richland County Elections Commission, says plenty of mistakes were made in 2012 and 2013 when it comes to voting in Richland County, and he says we can’t afford to make the same mistakes in the June 2014 primary less than 30 days away.
The first approach is to relieve pressure on Election Day by opening more polling locations and making sure there are enough functioning machines to serve them:
Richland County Election Commission has made big changes by adding 25 more precincts, including one at the southeast branch of the Richland County Library.
The 25 extra precincts keep the number of voters at each polling place lower. In a statement, Selph says now there are only two precincts in Richland County with more than 3,000 voters.
The Election Commission has 59 more voting machines installed throughout the county to keep problems like extreme wait times — like what happened in 2012 — from happening again.
The other approach is to eliminate confusion on Election Night by giving county staff an easy-to-manage system intended to prevent ballots being overlooked again:
The other big change is a big simpler. Selph says new cubbyholes can actually prevent confusion in the vote counting process. Once each precinct has closed, the electronic ballot cartridges are checked in at the elections office and the equipment for each precinct is stored in its respective cubbyhole.
Selph says the idea is a visual indicator of what data is in and what data hasn’t been registered yet. It’s low tech, but Selph says it eliminates the hassle of tracking down each precinct.
Richland County’s previous (BAD!) experiences are an abundant source of cautionary tales for election offices everywhere … but the County’s attempts to overcome those problems with better management and a little forethought are a potential lesson as well. I, for one, will be rooting for Richland County this June. Stay tuned!