New touch screen voting machines demonstrated in Kane County

BATAVIA – About 40 people recently came to the Batavia Public Library for demonstrations of the Kane County Clerk’s Office’s new voting equipment – Hart Verity Duo systems – which will be used in the March 19, 2024, primary and the Nov. 5, 2024, general election.

It was the first in a round of 13 demonstrations at public locations.

Amanda Vanderwerf, a youth services librarian at the Batavia library, came to see the demonstration and gave the new system a thumb’s up.

“I like it,” Vanderwerf said. “It’s pretty simple.”

The Hart Verity Duo system has a touch screen that gives a prospective voter a five-digit access code.

When prompted, it provides a sheet of ballot paper with an arrow pointing how it should go in.

The voter then follows on-screen prompts for which candidates they’re choosing.

For demonstration purposes, Vanderwerf had celebrity choices, including Darth Vader, Ansel Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Once she made her selections, she pushed a button to print the ballot.

The printed ballot gave her an opportunity to review her choices.

She put her approved paper ballot – following the arrow’s direction – into the scanner to record her votes.

And she was done.

The system provides an electronic touch screen for voting, as well as a paper ballot, to tabulate results.

One caveat from Vanderwerf was when she fed the paper ballot into the scanner, she had to give it a bit of a push for it to go in.

“I think the paper thing is going to be a little bit confusing – I wish it would just go in – but other than that, I liked it,” Vanderwerf said.

Deputy clerk Jim Morefield, who also is the election judge coordinator, said that can be remedied with a notice on the scanner so voters know they need to provided extra effort to feed the ballot so it can be scanned and recorded.

“The difference now is when you voted on the old equipment, once you hit the red cast ballot, you were finished voting and you did not have an opportunity to go back,” said Lynn McShane, a deputy clerk charged with demonstrating the new equipment.

“At this stage, this paper is your ballot that you have not cast yet. So now you can check and make sure it’s correct,” McShane said. “If you’re not happy with it, you have an opportunity to go back and talk to the election workers. They would spoil the ballot with some paperwork that goes with it, give you the new access code and you can start again. But if you’re happy, this is the scanner that you cast your ballot on.”

An American flag filled the screen with a message to Vanderwerf that her vote had been recorded and there was a “Thank you for voting” message.

Vanderwerf said providing voters with a preview of how the new system works is a good idea.

“It’s really nice to be able to know exactly what I’m getting into,” Vanderwerf said. “Thank you so much for doing this.”

The public demonstrations continue next month:

• Noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Kane County Flea Market, 525 S. Randall Road, St. Charles

• 1 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Geneva Public Library, 227 S. Seventh St., Geneva

• 3 to 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Aurora Public Santori Library, 101 S. River St., Aurora

• 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 16 at Dundee Township Randall Oaks Library, 500 Randall Road, West Dundee

• 12:30 to 4 p.m. Dec. 16 at Dundee Township Fox River Valley Library, 555 Barrington Ave., West Dundee

Kane County Clerk John Cunningham said the biggest challenge will be educating more than 300,000 voters, 1,500 election judges and his staff.

“This is not new to us because we’ve been down this path before when we did away with punch-card voting,” Cunningham said. “Also what we’re doing at the early voting site at my office, when people come in for other services, they can have the opportunity to become acquainted with the new equipment. And we are also going to be reaching out to service organizations – like Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis, Lions – to demonstrate how it works. We’re getting the best equipment on the market and we’ve been very pleased we have been able to work with the same people again.”

The new equipment cost $7 million, Cunningham said. It was paid by the county.

“I appreciate working together with the county board so we can have the finest election equipment that is manufactured in the U.S.,” Cunningham said.