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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission gave its approval for the county to apply for federal funds to go toward the replacement of aging voting machines.
County Clerk Mark Rhodes appeared before the commission Monday to discuss the application and why it is needed. The money is being provided from leftover funds from the Help America Vote Act from 2002.
The West Virginia Secretary of State's Office has changed the scope of what it was to be used for so it could be used to purchase new equipment.
''Our current machines were bought in 2006,'' he said. ''We have about 10-11 we have taken out of service all together.''
Like many electronic devices, they become outdated the older they get. The more age they get, the slower they operate.
''We are looking at purchasing all new equipment,'' Rhodes said.
The county has 340 voting machines. The county is looking at getting 300 new machines.
Rhodes said they need fewer machines because a number of voting precincts were consolidated a few years ago.
''We are not using as many voting machines,'' he said.
Rhodes said there was over $6.2 million in the state coffers for a number of programs, one of which is to replace older voting machines.
The county's quote is around $1.5 million for new Express Vote equipment to replace the iVotronic system. The county would still have payments of around $143,000 a year for five years in a lease/purchase agreement.
Rhodes said it is a combination of new technologies being implemented and the older equipment wearing out that is prompting the push to replace it.
Some of the machines have begun to fall apart. Replacement batteries for these machines are $96 a piece. Many of the current batteries are the originals when they first got the machines. Some batteries had come from other counties to help the Wood County machines continue to work.
''We have replaced some of the batteries,'' Rhodes said. ''We do monthly maintenance on the machines to try to keep everything up-to-date.''
It was starting to cost the county more in maintenance to keep the machines operational, he said.
''It was time to look at upgrading,'' Rhodes added.
The current voting machines are also large and difficult to transport to the various voting sites.
''These are a little bit smaller and easier to send out,'' Rhodes said.
The new system includes an electronic poll book.
''It is basically a tablet that has all of the voter information on it, the same as the poll book that you sign when you go to the polls,'' Rhodes said. ''It is the same thing, just in electronic format.''
The current system only has the available precinct's book. If someone shows up in the wrong place, someone has to call the clerk's office to get the proper precinct the voter should be in.
''In this case, they can look it up…without having to call us to find out that information,'' Rhodes said. ''It should cut down some of the traffic on election day.''
The grant application period is through the end of August.
Rhodes said they would probably not be able to get the new machines until after the mid-term elections this year. If approved, the county can have the new machines in place in time for the 2020 election.
That would give them time to get the new machines ready and provide public demonstrations for those interested in seeing how the new machines work and also detail any differences with the current voting machines the county has.
''We will be able to do demonstrations so everybody can see how it works and make sure they are comfortable with it,'' Rhodes said. ''Going from the paper ballot to the iVotronic touch screen was a big jump.
''We did a lot of community education on that. This system is not quite as big (of a change), but it does operate a little differently.''
One aspect of the new system would be the voters would get a printout of their completed ballot for them to inspect before they turn it in.
The commission unanimously approved to apply for the funding.