Simsbury Was Part of Pilot for Check-In Election System

Those who voted in the municipal election Nov. 8 may have noticed something different, there was an additional check in step that involved a laptop. The town was selected to test an electronic poll book system for the Secretary of State's office.

The town was one of three selected, the others being Vernon and Torrington, to test a system, said Karen Cortes, the Democratic registrar for Simsbury.

“This is just one of many systems that are being explored,” said Cortes.

The way it worked was similar to how it’s always been done — when you went to vote you entered the line by alphabetical order of the street where you live and checked in with your identification. Your named was crossed off a list in a book. But this year, simultaneously and electronically, as you were checking in someone was also checking you in on a laptop. You received a printed receipt to give to the ballot clerk and then you voted.

The idea was to test the accuracy of the system compared with the paper and pencil system. If the test goes well and the state moves to implement the new check in system it would first have to be approved by the state legislature. The system Simsbury is testing is being used in seven other states.

“The test run went better than the actually usage,” said Cortes.

She said due to the power outage fixes that were identified during the test run were not implemented.

“The storm threw everything off,” said Gail Stempien the assistant Republican registrar for Simsbury.

Cortes said the people working the system and at the polls did a “heroic job” given the circumstances

The check in system had nothing to do with voting. It strictly was used to check people in, verify if they had already voted or had filed an absentee ballot or directed them to the correct voting district if needed. Most significantly, though, the system tallies the final voter turnout for the town. This number is reported to the state. That number can take days and days, if not weeks, to verify, say registrars.

With the electronic system the voter information will be captured instantaneously.

There are roughly 15,000 registered voters in Simsbury. Say 7,000 people turn out for the election. That means Cortes and Marge Diachenko, the Republican registrar, have to verify all 7,000 names.

“There’s a lot of room for error,” said Cortes. “The process is ripe for technology.”

Diachenko was a bit taken aback when she first heard the town would be a test site, but after seeing the system, she became a fan.

“I think it’s a good system,” she said. “I am not a technology person.”

But she is someone who likes the idea of shortening the time it takes to verify voter information.

“It’s a lot faster,” said Diachenko.

Two computers were used for each polling district, said Cortes.

It so happens the owner of the company whose system the town used lives in town, Matthew Lilly.

Lilly said his company, Electec Inc., supplies voting technology for up to 10 million voters in the United States. The states of Delaware and Pennsylvania are two states that use the system. The company will be involved with more than 100 elections this year, he said.

“We want this to work,” said Cortes.

“God Bless this machine,” said Diachenko, referring to the time it can save and accuracy it can provide.