News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Overton County Election Commission will hold an open house Thursday to encourage the public to get familiar with its new voting equipment.
Overton County Administrator of Elections Craig Story said the new machines will go into use for the 2024 election cycle. Story said there will be a representative from equipment vendor Microvote at the event to help anyone who is unsure about the new system.
“We want you to get in there, you know, try and cast a vote on it, get comfortable with it, see how it operates” Story said. “If you’ve got any questions, we’ve got the expert right there that’s going to be able to answer them for you. If there’s any concerns that you want to have addressed, he’ll be there to talk to you about it.”
Story said county officials wanted to make sure the public had the chance to try out the equipment before the election cycle starts. Story said the event will be held at the election commission’s office in Livingston from 12pm to 4pm.
Story said the machines will use a verified paper audit trail for an added layer of security.
“So when a voter makes a selection, it’s going to write down that voter’s choice on a piece of paper, and then that piece of paper will be saved and stored,” Story said. “And if there was ever any question or any reason for a recount, a court-ordered recount or something along those lines, we can go back and we can do that.”
Story said he hopes the event will allow the public to be more confident about the new machines.
“We want the public to be confident in knowing that we’re going to be able to conduct a fair election, and that if we ever needed to go back and check a paper record for whatever reason, that we have that capability,” Story said.
