News

Diebold tabulates votes in another Ohio county

May 27, 2003

NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Butler County, Ohio, successfully used 100 Diebold Election Systems AccuVote-TS touchscreen voting stations to conduct a special election in 59 precincts throughout the county.

The electorate in this jurisdiction, located north of Cincinnati, found the touchscreen voting stations easy to use when voting on a school-tax levy and a school-bond issue, according to a news release. See related story, "Diebold touts success of touchscreen voting in Ohio."

"The AccuVote-TS, AccuVote Optical Scan, and GEMS software make a remarkable voting system," said Robert Mosketti, director, Butler County Board of Elections. "We were all eager to be involved in this history-making project, and the Diebold team only added to the excitement of the experience."

Voting stations were prepared at each precinct with a few steps that made training poll workers an easy process for the Butler County election staff, the release said. All precincts opened on time.

Technology built into the election system let voters change their votes without assistance, and review ballot selections before casting their ballots. These features contributed to an under-vote of significantly less than 1 percent. Election day and absentee-ballot results were jointly tabulated by 9 p.m. using Diebold's election-management software.

Butler County election officials tested Diebolds' election software and hardware to make sure it provided the level of accuracy, reliability and accessibility necessary to meet the requirements of the new federal Help America Vote Act.

The AccuVote-TS voting station has a voice-guidance capability that enables blind and visually impaired voters to listen to ballot choices and make selections using a telephone-style keypad. A magnification feature also enables visually impaired voters to enlarge the size of the ballot text, making the content on the screen even more visible.