HARTFORD, CT — When Connecticut voters cast their ballots on Election Day, they will feed their votes into one of about 2,500 new tabulators that replaced the old scanners as part of a $20 million package.
“Our previous machines, as you may know, were close to 20 years old – purchased before the iPhone was invented,” Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said at a media briefing Monday. “It was getting harder and harder to find replacement parts, and they were worn out.”
The new machines, capable of recording up to 100 ballots per minute, still use paper ballots and are not connected to the internet, Thomas said.
Among other security features are a series of locks on every access point, including the storage bin and the connection between the tabulator and the housing it sits on. Also, the machines feature larger screens than the older ones and inform voters if they filled out the ballot incorrectly.
The older machines as they aged became more prone to malfunctions, Thomas said, and even though there were protocols in place for such events, it made voters nervous that their ballot might not be recorded.
“These, because they are not expected to malfunction, will make voters feel better,” she said.
Thomas also encouraged residents to cast a ballot, even though turnout in odd-numbered municipal election years typically is less than half of voter participation in presidential elections.
“Presidents do not fix our streetlights. They don’t decide how many teachers are in our child’s classrooms or whether our neighborhoods get a sidewalk,” she said. “That all happens right here in Connecticut at the local level. If you care about your town, tomorrow is the time to come out and show it at the polls.”
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