By Mary O’KEEFE

The office of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk recently sent representatives and a voting machine to the La Crescenta Library in an effort to help voters get comfortable with the new LA County voting system.

March 2020 will see a new system in place that is hoped to make it easier for voters to cast their ballot. Several people visited the library on Monday and Tuesday to get hands-on training with the new voting machine. In the past voters would take a long ballot sheet of candidates and proposals and place them into the top of a type of stationary notebook. Voters then, with an ink utensil, marked their choices on the inserted card turning pages to reveal the names and proposals.

Using the new system voters will take a ballot paper from the poll worker and place it into a digital notebook. Voters check via a touch screen the language in which they want to receive their voting options then begin to vote. After the choices are made, the paper ballot is removed from the machine so voters can check for accuracy. If they make a mistake they can get another paper ballot and begin again; they have up to three chances to make corrections and submit a correct ballot.

When all their choices are approved voters put the ballot into the system and submit it. The ballot then is deposited into a collection box.

The voting machine does not have internet connection.

To see a video tutorial of the new system, visit www.cvweekly.com/NEWS.