by Laura Glesby The New Haven independent
Eighty-five new ballot-counting machines are here to stay after the city piloted them for the 2024 presidential election.
The Board of Alders voted on Tuesday to accept a gift of those 85 tabulators from the Secretary of the State’s office, one week before the upcoming primary election day for three alder races on Sept. 9.
New Haven had been one of nine towns and cities to use the new machines on a trial basis last year for the 2024 general election in November.
“The tabulators we were using were really old. They were chronically having problems, not only in New Haven but across the state,” said Republican Registrar of Voters Lisa Milone.
With new machines last November, “the rollout evidently was smooth,” Milone said. “I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback.”
Nearly all of the new machines are DS300s. One, however, is a coveted DS950 — an especially fast machine specifically designated to count absentee ballots after the polls close.
Longtime poll worker Kevin Arnold, who is serving as the head moderator of early voting this primary election, said that the previous tabulators used across the state would often break down.
“When they worked, they were reliable” and accurate, he said. But the old machines would often stop functioning. The new tabulators, based on his experience in the last election, are “much more reliable, much faster.”
According to Roger Senserrich, a spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of State, “Previous tabulators were also purchased by the office of the Secretary of the State and transferred to municipalities.”
The city will be responsible for maintenance costs, as in previous years. According to a fiscal impact statement submitted to the Board of Alders, the projected cost of this maintenance is about $32,960 annually.
Voting in action, in September 2024.
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