The June primary is just a month away and when Tulare County voters head to the polls they'll be met with brand new technology to make the process faster and easier.
With just a couple quick touches on a tablet -- Tulare County elections employees can pull up a registered voter and get them ready to vote.
The new technology hopes to eliminate lines at polling precincts and make work more efficient for poll workers.
Tulare County Auditor-Controller Rita Woodard said, "On the paper copy they have to hunt and find their name here they just look them up on the computer it pops right in."
Poll workers previously used a large book at every precinct, to help them find the name of a voter, and then to tally up who voted at the end of the night. Now, that work is simplified using a tablet.
Tulare County Assistant Auditor-Controller Debbie Paolinelli said, "The voter is here, we can mark them as voted after they vote and we can print their ticket and instead of signing the book they go ahead and sign the receipt with their signature and they're on their way."
Then at the end of the day, elections workers can simply print a list of who voted, a faster way for checks and balances, and determining voter turnout. The elections office already tested the new technology at a precinct last November and found it worked great.
The software plus getting a tablet for every precinct in Tulare County, cost more than $300,000.00. But they expect it will pay off in the long run, plus bring election results faster.
Woodard added, "We're going to save our costs later in the paper and we think we can have one less person at the poll sites too for every precinct out there so that will be quite a savings too."
Tulare County voters will see the new technology at this year's primary election on June 3rd.
