The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is thoughtfully purchasing new election equipment over the next year. One of many factors that will influence our decision is how well the new equipment will be able to serve persons with disabilities and the ADA community. To assist our decision making, we invited community partners, advocates, and persons with disabilities to try out the options. Three equipment vendors demonstrated their products during an open house event on January 10 at our warehouse.
During the event, guests participated in a mock election simulating the Early In-Person Voting process. They were able to try out election equipment from all three vendors, including ballot optical scanners and ADA ballot-marking devices. After visiting each vendor, guests were invited to share their feedback with a survey. About 40 people participated in the event.
The three equipment vendors include Clear Ballot, Elections Systems and Software (ES&S), and Hart InterCivic.
Our team will carefully review the feedback gathered over the coming days and months as we move closer to a decision. Another demonstration event will be open to the public later this year. We expect to make a final decision in 2020 and begin implementation for elections in 2021.
To learn more about the acquisition process, visit our website:
https://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US//publicdemo2019.aspx
