In gearing up for Election Day on Nov. 7, Prince Edward County Registrar Lynette Wright held training for poll workers Oct. 19 regarding using new voting machines, which will include paper ballots submitted to a machine as opposed to an all-electronic system with a touchscreen interface used in previous years.

“This system is already in use and has been for a few years in a number of localities in Virginia and the reaction has been pretty positive about the simplicity of its use by officers of election and by voters,” said Tyler Lincks of Print Elect, the Virginia account manager that conducted the training.

Lincks said voters will receive a ballot and will walk to a voting booth where they can read the ballot, then color in an oval, which will appear next to the candidate’s name that they wish to vote for. Following their choice of candidate, voters will take the ballot to a scanning device into which they will scan the ballot, a process which counts the votes. The ballot will then be collected in a box inside of the voting machine.

According to Wright, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors approved an amount of $116,760 that is payable in two budget amounts, so that $58,380 will be taken from this fiscal year budget and the same amount will be taken from the next for the new machines.

“We had the DRE systems that got outlawed three weeks ago, but we already had ours in place before that happened,” Wright said. “It’s paper ballots, so it should be a whole lot easier. I know a lot of people sometimes get intimidated when they have to mess with electronics.”

According to a press release from the Virginia Department of Elections, the decertification of the Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting equipment in Virginia was approved in an effort to increase the security and integrity of Virginia’s voting systems ahead of this year’s election.

BALLOTS FOR PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY POLLING PLACES

All county polling places:

Incumbent marked with*

Governor

• Ralph S. Northam, Democrat

• Edward W. “Ed” Gillespie, Republican

• Clifford D. Hyra, Libertarian

•Write-in option

Lieutenant Governor

• Justin E. Fairfax, Democrat

• Jill H. Vogel, Republican

• Write-in option

Attorney General

• Mark R. Herring, Democrat

• John D. Adams, Republican

•Write-in option

Member House of Delegates 60th District

• Jamaal M. Johnston, Democrat

• James E. Edmunds II, Republican

• Write-in option

District 7 Board of Supervisors Member

• Jim H. Wilck*

• Write-in option

District 7 School Board Member

• Cainan D. Townsend

• Write-in option

District 7 votes at Farmville Fire Department (District 701).

District 3 Board of Supervisors Member

• Jerry R. Townsend*

• Write-in option

District 3 School Board Member

• Timothy Wiley Corbett Sr.*

• Write-in option

District 3 votes at Mt. Zion Second Baptist Church-Green Bay (District 301) and Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church (District 302).

District 5 Board of Supervisors Member

• C.R. “Bob” Timmons Jr.

• Write-in option

District 5 School Board Member

• Lucy B. Carson

• Write-in option

District 5 votes at Darlington Heights Fire Department (District 501) and Asap Building (District 502).

District 6 Board of Supervisors Member

• Calvin L. Gray*

• J. David Emert

• Write-in option

District 6 School Board Member

• Elzora Glenice Stiff

• Dione Scott Jennings

• Write-in option

District 6 votes at Prospect Fire Department (District 601).