New Electronic Poll Book Program to Debut In Scott County Special Election

Secretary of State Develops New Program; Dixon Special Election Will Be First To Use Iowa Express Voter;Program Allows for Scanning Iowa Driver's License or Voter Registration Card.DAVENPORT - Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz announced today that voters in Tuesday's City of Dixon special election will have the option to scan their state issued IDs to help check in at the polling place. This is part of Iowa Express Voter, a new electronic poll book program developed by the Iowa Secretary of State. Precinct election officials presiding over the upcoming City of Dixon Special Election will be the first in Iowa to use this new program. "We are pleased that Scott County will be the first to use Iowa Voter Express in a live election environment," Moritz said. "My staff and staff from Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz's office have worked together to fine tune this new program. It has been a good example of intergovernmental cooperation, and will result in a good product that is easy to use," Moritz said.Iowa Express Voter includes an option for scanning a voter's state issued identity card, either a driver's license or non-driver's identity card issued by the Iowa DOT or a voter registration card issued by the Auditor's Office. The scanner will read information on the ID card and then put that information into the electronic poll book rather than having election officials hand enter the information. Scanning IDs is only an option and not required to process voters."We are very excited to try out the new scanning function," Moritz said. "We always have a trade-off between election security and voter convenience, and scanners should help to increase the speed of processing individual voters," Moritz said. "But our election officials are ready to hand enter the voter information too," she said.The program was designed to be user friendly for election officials, which increases the speed and accuracy of processing individual voters, making the voting process more convenient. "The reviews from precinct officials who recently trained on the new system have been very positive," Moritz added.ROXANNA MORITZAUDITOR & COMMISSIONER OF ELECTIONS600 W. 4TH StreetDavenport, Iowa 52801Ph: (563) 326-8631 Fax: (563) 326-8601Cell: (563) 370-3915www.scottcountyiowa.comThree Scott County precinct officials recently trained on Iowa Express Voter and all three gave it a positive review."The new system is easy to use and very user friendly," said Mike Salter, one of three precinct officials who recently trained on the new program. "I really like the new ID scanner function which will greatly speed up voter processing," Salter added.Jeanita McNulty also thought highly of Iowa Express Voter. "This program is more streamlined and intuitive. The poll workers I serve with will love it," she said."I could get a little frustrated with our old program," said election official Bev Strayhall. "This program lets me fix mistakes more easily so we should be able to continue to process voters.I think it will be a real plus for voters and poll workers."Another plus for Scott County taxpayers is the cost of the new program. "Secretary Schultz will make the program available to counties for free," Moritz said.For more information contact the Scott County Auditor`s Office at 563-326-8631