Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Introduces e-Poll Books

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections plans to begin using electronic poll books starting with the primary this May.  They’ll replace the oversize paper books that voters used to sign to verify their identity.

Known as e-Poll Books, these tablets will check in voters by looking up their address or scanning their state ID.

The Board has been demonstrating the new technology at public events around the county.  Mike West of the Board of Elections says e-Poll Books -- which operate on their own wi-fi hotspots -- are safe from cyber threats.

“There’s no way for anybody to hack into them or gain access to the information or tamper with it in any way, and it shouldn’t be confused with the actual voting process because this is basically a list of names and addresses.” 

The Board of Elections says the e-Poll Books are meant to reduce wait-times at the polls and improve the accuracy of election results.  

Last week the Board finalized an agreement to purchase 1400 e-Poll Books from Tenex Solutions.

In 2015, a programming error in Tenex e-Poll Books incorrectly told over 2700 voters in Hamilton County that they had registered too late to vote.

West says Cuyahoga County has taken its time to test the technology.