Overton Early Voting Date Highlights Changes

By GWENDOLYN WEILER

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa Valley resident Cindy Hardy voted ahead of the crowd on Friday, June 1, by voting early at the Senior Center in Overton. “The check-in was a little different,” said Hardy. “It was all computerized.”

Hardy was one of the first voters to benefit from the new technology that is rolling out across 16 of the 17 counties in Nevada and changing the face of election day for all Clark County residents. Both the voting machines and check-in process have been upgraded in order to increase security and make it easier for residents to cast their votes.

In the past, the check-in was conducted by poll workers using paper and pens. Now, it’s all being done on a tablet—an electronic poll book.
“Checking all your information was very easy to do,” said Hardy. “If you have your booklet, they can just scan all that information and you’ll zip right through!”

Even more important is what this technology is doing for the entire community. “We want all voters to be aware that voting has changed on election day,” said County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria. “The old polling place where you voted may not be where you’re voting this year.”

Until now, all voters have been assigned to exactly one voting location within their precincts. But that is another thing that has changed. Residents can now vote at any voting center within the county.
“Now, (voters) have 172 choices county wide to go out and vote,” said Gloria.

Locally, there will be voting centers at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale and at the Senior Center in Overton. However, all residents are free to cast their ballots at either location—or anywhere else within the county.

Thus, residents working in Las Vegas or surrounding areas no longer have to wake up at dawn or hurry home in rush-hour traffic to try to make it to a designated voting location. Instead, they can stop in at the nearest voting center during a lunchbreak or between errands wherever they are in the county.

In addition, new voting machines are replacing the previous ones, which dated back to the early 2000s. “Security has strengthened tremendously with the new system and we’re excited about that,” said Gloria. “With the new system, the new technology and more memory in the machines, we’re able to do a lot more with the encryption.”

Those upgrades will be nearly undetectable to voters, though. “As far as the use of the equipment, it’s exactly the same,” said Gloria.

As before, users will have a touchscreen connected to a voter-verified printer that allows them to verify and confirm their selections before casting their ballots.

However, back at the election offices, everything will be different, Gloria said.
“From our warehouse, to our IT support, to our training, to our admin—everything involved with elections here—we’ve had to learn everything brand-new,” said Gloria. “There’s a ton of work that’s been going on in this department the past year in order to get where we’re at today.”

Election day will be Tuesday, June 12. Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. All Clark County residents are free to vote at any voting center within the county.