How do electronic poll books work?

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The record of every voter in the county is loaded onto each electronic poll book. When a voter arrives at the voting location, a poll inspector checks the voter in either by scanning the voter’s election card, state driver’s license/ID or by performing a manual name search on the tablet.  If the voter is at the wrong voting location, the poll inspector can text/e-mail/print directions to the voter’s correct voting location.

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Each poll book is encrypted for security and synced to the other units deployed at that polling location, so when a voter checks in on one unit, all the other units at that location are updated as well. These poll books also transmit important encrypted administrative data (such as supply of ballots and other items, poll inspector payroll, voter counts, etc.) in real time back to the Board of Elections, as well as allow staff to send messages to poll inspectors.  Rest assured, no sensitive voter-specific data is transmitted in these encrypted transfers.
 

What are the benefits to voters?

 

Electronic poll books reduce the check-in time (and, consequently, wait times) for voters.  As mentioned above, voters that have a Board of Elections issued voter information card or a state issued ID or license can have them scanned to pull up their record immediately for signing.

 

Further, by having the information for every registered voter in the County on each device, precinct election officials are able to quickly and confidently identify voters who are at the wrong voting location and direct them to their correct location.  These features significantly reduce the number of voters who vote at the wrong location and whose affidavit ballots are subsequently rejected.

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What security features are in place?

 

Broome County's E-Poll Books were programmed by Tenex Software Solutions and has been certified by the New York State Board of Elections and was tested by National Technical Systems (NTS).   As part of our Board’s vendor selection process, the both New York State and Broome County Departments of Information Technology have conducted a review of the security features to protect your election data.

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• The E-Poll Books protect against intentional manipulation, fraud and malicious mischief;

• The E-Poll Books provides the ability to identify fraudulent or erroneous changes to the system;

• They maintain the integrity of the voting process with secure line technology and encryption.

• The E-Poll Books are in no way connected, physically or electronically, to the vote recording equipment.