Fannin County Election Supervisor Mary Ann Conner invites Fannin County voters to try out the new Georgia voting machines before the next election.
“We have one of the voting units set up in our office and it is ready for anyone who would like to come by and do a test vote on it,” Conner said.
The switch in voting machines followed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s awarding of a contract to Dominion Voting Systems to implement its new verified paper ballot system July 29 of this year. This decision came after complaints of machine malfunctions and unverifiable results during the November 2018 midterm election were heard and the Georgia Legislature voted to provide definitions for elections in order to replace the fully electronic system with a system that uses printed ballots. In order to cast their ballots, voters will receive a card from a poll worker and place it into the electronic machine. They will then select their choices, review them and then print their ballot. The printed ballot can then be reviewed before placing it into a scanner. The scanner will be connected to a locked ballot box, where the ballots will be stored after they are scanned.
“It’s much simpler,” Conner said. “I really think the voters will like it.”
The Board of Elections office is located on the third floor of the Fannin County Courthouse and can be reached at 706-632-7740.