Pending final approval by the county’s head lawyer, Butler County will buy a new voting system for just under $950,000.
The Butler County election board gave their approval for the new system on Wednesday with the commissioners’ approval. The Butler County commissioners are not currently voting as the election board because all three commissioners are running for re-election.
The new system will come from a company called Election Systems and Software of Nebraska and will be a paper-based ballot instead of the current electronic ballot. Voters will actually use a pencil to color-in the oval next to a candidate’s name. The process will be similar to an absentee ballot.
The voter will then drop the ballot into a secure ballot box, where it will be scanned into a computer and tabulated.
Last year, the state mandated that all counties switch to a voting system that had a verifiable paper record that could be referenced should there be a discrepancy.
Butler County Elections Director Shari Brewer says the county plans to have the new system up and running by the November 2019 general election.
Election Systems and Software was one of four companies the county was considering buying a new system from. Read more on the selection process here.