Primaries see debut of electronic poll books
MU senior Paul Castellano gets checked in by a poll worker using an electronic pollbook at Paquin Tower during Tuesday's primary election. Pollworkers are using the software on laptops to make check-ins more efficient.
Poll workers at Tuesday's primary elections said voters were able to check in more efficiently thanks to new electronic poll books Boone County has started using in place of traditional pen-and-paper sign-in.
Voters were able to check in by having their drivers licenses or sample ballots scanned. A computer program loaded on a laptop for each poll worker extracted information people would normally have to write down, such as their name and address, and store it as a record the person had voted.
Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren announced in April that the programs would be used in the coming elections. She said the computer programs would help poll workers check in people more quickly, so they could devote time to people who need extra help.
"With a well-designed program, it could do the work for them," Noren said then.
On Tuesday, poll workers like Harold Miederhoff, at Paquin Tower, said the programs were easy to use because they received a lot of training and the clerk's office had done tests for user-friendliness even after the training.
"They're really easy to use and understand, even for an old guy like me," he said.