How do you use Northampton County’s new voting machines?

After lengthy debate and a phone interview with Delaware State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove, Northampton County Council gave the green light for the county to purchase a new voting machine system Thursday night.So what should you expect this November when you go to cast your ballot in the general election?What steps do I have to go through to vote this November?The Express Vote XL closely resembles the machines already in use across the county, drawing approval from most poll workers who viewed them during demonstrations over the past year.After giving your name to the worker keeping record with the poll book, each voter will be handed a blank slip of paper. When the voter goes to the voting machine, they’ll feed the paper into a slot on the bottom right side of the machine.From there, the voter will select their candidates on the large touch screen. The screen is big enough to include the entire ballot, so voters won’t have to scroll through to find individual races.After confirming their selection, the machine will print your choices on the slip of paper you fed into the machine. The slip will lower down to a window, where voters will be asked to read the ballot and confirm it matches their intended vote. If it does, the voter submits the ballot, and the paper slip is stored in the machines innards. These ballots can later be reviewed in the event of a recount or for a future audit.What if there’s an error?If a voter notices a mistake on the slip of paper, they can call a poll worker and be provided a new slip of paper. The machine will spit the incorrect paper out, and voters will be allowed to start over. Voters can do this up to three times.I liked the old machines. Why is the county spending millions of dollars on a new system?Last year, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all counties must have voting systems that leave a paper trail in place by 2020. The county’s current voting devices, while difficult to hack, do not leave a paper trail, making them impossible to audit. If a machine malfunctions, its votes could be lost. If it’s somehow tampered with, it’s possible votes could be changed with no way of catching it.While the machines don’t have to be in place until next year, Director of Administration Charles Dertinger said the county will have the machines out and poll workers trained to use them by the November election. The presidential election cycle sees the highest turnout, and election officials across the state are trying to get their new systems in place for this year’s slower municipal election cycle as a sort of trial run.
Source: Morningcall