The Prince William County registrar is requesting $50,000 for equipment that she says will shorten lines on Election Day and save the county money down the road.
Paper poll books — or lists of registered voters in the county — have generally been provided to the counties by the State Board of Elections, but Gov. Tim Kaine’s office has told localities to provide as much information electronically as possible — including poll books.
According to county registrar Betty Weimer, if electronic poll books are not used, the state probably will bill the localities for the production, shipping and after-election scanning of poll books for each election beginning in 2010. The state board is required to provide poll books to localities.
Weimer estimated that a general election in Prince William County costs about $5,000, not including scanning costs, and that the expenses could double for a dual primary.
“It does add up, and we have had years where we’ve had five elections in the last four years,” she said.
Half the money would be used to buy 250 subsidized laptops at a cost of $100 each. Weimer said the state-provided subsidy for electronic poll books probably would not be available by the end of the summer, after which the laptops would cost $2,000 each.
She said that whether Prince William was able to use the system for the fall general election depended on when the funding is approved and when the county buys the equipment.
Additional expenses would be used to maintain hardware, security and storage.
“Down the road, I think it will save the county money,” Weimer said.
“This is 2009, and we’re using technology from probably the 1860s to check voters in,” said Supervisor Marty Nohe, R-Coles. “The reality is, this is the way things are going to be, eventually.”
Chesterfield County outside Richmond used the equipment in 17 of its largest precincts during the November 2008 election to check in more than 48,000 voters. Chesterfield plans to provide the system throughout the county, Weimer said.
