Executive order prompts purchase of new ballot machines
In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” requiring a voter-verifiable paper record and banning the use of bar codes or QR codes for vote counting in all federal elections. And while Nye County has embraced the use of paper ballots since the 2022 election cycle, its system does utilize a QR code for counting, prompting the purchase of a new suite of machines for future elections.
The new machines are from Dominion Voting Systems and the process will work much the same as it has in the past, Nye County Clerk Cori Freidhof explained. Voters will still begin by checking in on a tablet and receiving their voter card before proceeding to a voting machine, where they will mark their ballots. The ballots will then be printed from a sealed printer and the voter will take theirs to be tabulated.
“The ImageCast X Ballot Marking Device features Dominion’s Uniform Ballot output,” information from the company states. “No bar codes or QR codes. Before printing, voters are prompted to review and confirm their selections, ensuring accuracy. After the ballot is printed, voters can further inspect their choices on the paper ballot before casting it for tabulation. This process guarantees a transparent and reliable voting experience.”
The machines will also result in less cost for holding elections, as there will be no need for pre-printed ballots to be kept on hand, meaning ballot stock could cover multiple elections.
“We had the good fortune of getting to see this when it was here at the last meeting and it’s super impressive. We are paper ready, as this county has required us to be, because that is what the voters wanted. So, I am tickled to death,” Nye County Commissioner Debra Strickland enthused at the board’s June 3 meeting.
Her fellow commissioner John Koenig obviously concurred, remarking, “Pretty slick.”
Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi chimed in as well, noting that he had never come across an election system with more security features than what the county would be getting with ImageCast X.
“One of the things that really needs to be pointed out here is, if you were to, say, try to copy a ballot and put it through the system, it would reject it. It has to be the exact paper. It’s a phenomenal system from that standpoint. No one is going to be able to put a counterfeit ballot into this system,” Kunzi said. “And the paper ballot is there, so it can be completely verified and checked and cross-checked… I highly endorse this product because I think it makes the system much more secure.”
The motion to approve the purchase passed with unanimous consent. The purchase includes 70 ImageCast X ballot marking devices for a total of $61,306.45 to be paid out of the Nye County General Fund.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
