County receives new voting machines

MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP — New equipment to tabulate the results will be used when voters in Marquette County head to the polls to vote in the special election.

The State of Michigan is upgrading its voting equipment. Marquette County will be the first U.P. county to try out the new machines.

Every clerk from every municipality in the county attended a meeting Thursday night in Marquette Township to learn about the new machines, called the Dominion Imagecast Precinct. The I–C–P will make tallying voting results faster and safer than the old machines.

“We’re getting up to speed with everyone else and as voting equipment goes it’s going to be more secure probably than it ever was,” said Linda Talsma, Marquette County Clerk. “The State of Michigan had to certify all of the machines and then we were able to choose between three different vendors.”

“There’s no physical connection to the internet on the machines, the voting machine itself or the computer that receives it ultimately at the courthouse,” said Kurt Knowles, account manager for Governmental Business Systems.

Each municipality in the county will receive a voting machine. The new machines, which cost a total of $240,000, are scheduled to arrive Monday.