County buys new voting system

By Katie Klingsporn

San Miguel County’s days of oldfangled, pencil pushing, counting-machine elections are over.

The County Commissioners approved the purchase of a new electronic voting system on Wednesday – one with all of the bells and whistles that make it compliant with federal law.

This system will do away with the paper ballot system that San Miguel County has historically employed to conduct elections, and at the same time will bring the county in compliance with the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA), which was passed in the wake of the disorderly and disputed 2000 presidential election. HAVA aims to avoid election debacles by phasing out old systems that may be confusing or insecure, and it applies to every county in the nation.