By Karen Gleason
Val Verde County Commissioners Court got its first look at the county’s new election equipment during its May regular term meeting.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told the court the county had spent about $450,000 on the new equipment and said he asked the vendor, ES&S (Election Systems and Software), to bring one of the machines to the courtroom so commissioners could see how it worked.
“I asked them to bring it to the court so that you all could look at it, and if you all wanted to take a quick moment, they could illustrate how they work,” Owens told the court.
“When are we expecting delivery?” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton asked.
“They were delivered last week, and we are ready to begin training,” a representative of ES&S replied.
Owens asked County Clerk Generosa “Janie” Gracia-Ramon if she had scheduled training on the new equipment for the general public.
“Right now we are waiting to firm up locations, and we will start that in June and continue in July and August,” Ramon said.
After the meeting, Ramon said the county clerk’s office staff would be trained first, beginning during the second week in June. She said the next trainings would be for the persons who work the elections, such as election clerks and judges.
Finally, training will be offered to the public, at times and places to be announced, she said.
Members of the court, including Owens, Nettleton and County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw walked to the machines, which were set up at the back of the courtroom, and an ES&S representative demonstrated how they worked.
Nettleton asked how many of the new machines the county had received.
“There’s 19 of the DS200s, which scans the voter’s ballot, and then we have 80 of the Express Vote, which lets you mark your ballot, and then we have DS450, which we are going to use for the ballots submitted by mail,” Ramon said.
Ramon said the new equipment would be used for the first time during a Nov. 2 constitutional amendment election.
“The Secretary of State will want to confirm what we are doing, and ES&S, the vendor, will be on-site for the election, which will be our first one with the new equipment,” Ramon told the court.
“From what I’ve been shown so far, it looks like the whole process is going to be a lot easier than what we’ve had before,” she added.
“Are these machines electronically connected back to your office from the polling places, or do you actually have to bring the chip and stuff back with you?” Nettleton asked the county clerk.
“There will be a computer set up in my office and on-site voting will be backed up to that computer so that we view it as it’s going. Also, it will require the (election) judges to bring back their information anyway because we have to verify that information,” Ramon replied.
“And just for clarity: When you say ‘viewing what is going on,’ it’s the total number of ballots. We won’t be able to see the vote count in your office as it’s going,” Owens said.
“Yes, sir. It’s only voter turnout,” Ramon agreed.
The E&S representative also told the court the voting machines “would not be connected to the internet at any point.”
Once the polls are closed, election officials at each polling place will hand-carry the USB device from each location to the courthouse where the final tabulations will take place.
“The Secretary of State requires that you not be connected to the internet,” Ramon added.
