Rep. Sweeney Secures Funding for Electronic Poll Books, Fully Implementing her Legislation HB 673
COLUMBUS – State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) today announced the Controlling Board’s approval of funding for local county boards of election to purchase electronic poll books, fully realizing the original legislative intent of House Bill (HB) 673, Rep. Sweeney’s bipartisan legislation to aid local boards of election in the acquisition of new, updated electronic poll books.
“I will always fight to ensure that all county boards of elections have the resources they need to administer secure, fair, & efficient elections. That’s why I introduced House Bill 673, bipartisan legislation to allocate the necessary state funding for purchase of new electronic poll books,” said Rep. Sweeney. “As state lawmakers, it is our responsibility to ensure that every Ohioan, regardless of where they live, has an opportunity to participate in our democracy and has reason to be confident in the results. Whether its funding for PSAs to encourage Ohioans to vote or funding for local vote-by-mail ballot printing & mailing operations, the state dollars we allocated today are essential to securing & protecting Ohio’s democratic elections.”
Electronic poll books are off-the-shelf tablets that poll workers use on election day to verify a voter’s registration status & record that they received a ballot. The electronic poll books are used to replace the old, outdated & inefficient paper poll books, helping to reduce check-in errors and wait times at busy polling locations.
Much like cell phones, electronic poll books become outdated over time and need to be updated or replaced. Because each county in Ohio has different needs and resources, state funding is vital to ensuring that every county has access to the latest election infrastructure & technology.
In addition to funding for new pollbooks, the Controlling Board also approved $4.8M in funding for the printing & mailing of vote-by-mail ballots and $2M for election-related public service announcements (PSAs) that encourage Ohioans to register to vote and remind them to vote on or before Nov. 5.