Sacramento County will replace its voting systems to the tune of $8 million in 2018.
The Board of Supervisors approved the purchase in a May 24 meeting. The money will replace hardware bought in 2002 with new scanners and polling devices.
The county currently uses six optical scan models, which feed ballots through trays to scan which bubble has been filled in for which candidate. A seventh was rented to fulfill voter demand in November, and all six of the county’s machines had to have specialized tape applied to their trays. According to the county’s registrar, Jill LaVine, it took eight hours to modify each machine. The tape was supposed to protect ballots, but some still became frayed, and the tape has worn away, LaVine said in the board meeting.
Renting and testing all voting machines in the county took three weeks, LaVine said. About one-quarter of the machines failed and had to be replaced.
And voter habits are changing: 64 percent of Sacramento County votes by mail on a permanent basis.
“Recognizing that this number is statewide, not just in our county, the state laws have focused on expanding access and security,” LaVine said.
Along with new tech, the county is considering ballot drop boxes for mail voters. About 30,000 people used them in the last election. The County Registrar’s Office has also released an online tracking system for mail ballots.
