Canton To Unveil New, Modern Voting Machines

Town of Canton

CANTON, CT — With election integrity an ongoing issue nationally and statewide, the Town of Canton recently upgraded its vote tabulator machines.

Earlier this month, Canton received seven new tabulators, part of the Secretary of the State’s program to update (sometimes) decades-old voting technology.

The new tabulator scans and stores the paper ballot that the voter feeds into the device, thereby casting their vote.

The tabulator totals the results for each race on the ballot, wrote the town in an announcement.

"While there are changes in appearance of the device and how they are maintained by Election Officials (e.g., battery charging), voters will notice little change," wrote town officials.

Voters will still insert their ballot into the ballot box opening.

One notable change, officials said, is the LCD screen on the tabulator.

This feature is most useful to voters if there is an issue with a ballot.

The new tabulators will require the use of black ink ballpoint pens only (no more felt-tip pens or Sharpies).

The Canton Registrars of Voters will always have an ample supply of black ink ballpoint pens stocked in each voting booth.

The first day for Canton's new machines will be May 8 during the Canton town/school budget referendum.

According to local officials, registrars will be there, along with other election officials, to assist all voters in using the new tabulator devices.