Been seeing all of those election candidate signs pop up on neighboring lawns? Elections are on the horizon and Rockland County introduced the new ES&S intElect DS200 Optical Scanner for that purpose. This scanner is a paper-based tabulation system that counts votes on paper ballots. This is not computerized voting because voters still fill in ovals on the ballot by hand and the ballot is kept by the Board of Elections in case a re-count is needed.
- Get your ballot from a poll worker in a privacy folder available in English or Spanish.
- Go to a privacy booth and mark your selections with the provided pen
- Insert ballot into the new optical scanner. Don't worry if it's face up or down or backwards, the scanner will read it.
- Check the screen after it reads the ballot and if there are changes you want to make, pick "Don't Cast - Return Ballot," or pick "Cast Ballot" if everything's good.
There'a an instructional video online. For more information, vote-ny.com and voterockland.com. The Rockland County board of Elections is at 11 New Hempstead Rd in New City, 845-638-5172.
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