First State residents voting in May’s school board elections statewide will get the first look at Delaware’s new voting machines.
The State’s Department of Elections purchased the 1,500 machines last year from a vendor in Nebraska at a cost of $13 million.
“ES&S (Elections Systems & Software) is the vendor. And it’s called the ES&S XL (ExpressVote XL),” said Elections commissioner Elaine Manlove.
She says she doesn’t expect voters to find them to be dramatically different from the previous ones.
“The screen is going to look the same. The big change is that they’re also going to see their ballot printed on a piece of paper right next to the screen and they’re going to get a chance to look at that before they cast their ballot,” Manlove said.
Manlove says these new machines replace outdated machines Delaware had been using for about 25 years.
Voters will get a paper card when they sign in to vote and insert that card into a slot before making their touch screen selections.
Manlove notes the paper ballots they produce will be the “ballot of record” used for any needed re-counts or audits.
School board elections statewide are set for Tuesday, May 14. 11 districts have at least one contested race on the ballot - 3 in Kent County, 4 in New Castle County and 4 in Sussex County.
