A scheduled test of Tippecanoe County’s new voter check-in equipment had to be postponed Monday when the company that supplies ballots failed to deliver a computer file in time.
The file, which gives audio of each candidate’s name and party affiliation, is used by voting machines to assist visually-impaired voters.
That prevented a public run-through of new technology the county has purchased from Votec – technology County Clerk Christa Coffey says she’s expecting the first delivery of this week.
During a presentation in August, Votec officials appeared unsure whether they could deliver the 80 voter check-in packages the county needs in time for early voting.
Coffey says the county’s subsequent contract mandates delivery of those machines by October 3rd, so the county has a week-and-a-half to test and install them before the first in-person ballots are cast.
The county election board will meet on September 29th for a second attempt at testing the new setup.
Coffey says the voter database that Votec’s equipment will manage is already built, but it must still interface with several other systems.
That interaction has caused problems in each of the last two elections, including delays checking voters in for 2015’s mayoral elections and some West Lafayette voters receiving incorrect ballots.
