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New Voting Machines Tested

Image Courtesy of the City of Homer
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City of Homer
Homer City Hall

Today is Election Day and City of Homer residents will decide who serves on the city council and the Borough Assembly, who will sit on our service area boards, and whether a contentious ballot proposition should be passed.
 
But, before any of these decisions can be announced the ballots must be tallied. On Election Day last year election officials hit a temporary road block when they tried to count the ballots. One of the machines used to tally votes malfunctioned.
 

“It just wasn’t counting at all. The Accuvote machine just stopped counting,” says City Clerk Jo Johnson.

 
Homer City Clerk Jo Johnson says two Accuvote units were used to count the ballots. When the first machine failed the remaining ballots were ran through the machine that was still working.
 
Johnson says the Accuvote machines are owned and maintained by the state. After the election last year both machines were returned. This year the city received two different machines and Johnson doesn’t foresee any problems.
 

“We have two working Accuvote units and we’ve tested ballots. We’ve also done the proper testing to make sure the ballots are being counted,” says Johnson.

 
One goes to the Homer Senior Center and the other will be in City Hall. 
The polls opened at seven this morning and they will close at eight o’clock tonight. Johnson expects to have election results around eight forty-five tonight.
 
Voters can find their assigned polling places on their voter ID cards. If you have any questions you can call the Homer City Clerk’s office.