LOCAL

New vote machine apparatus to be used across Indiana in 2024 visits Muncie

David Penticuff
Muncie Star Press

MUNCIE, Ind. — MicroVote, the private company that provides voting machines and aids Delaware County in its election processes, brought a machine equipped with a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) device to the Delaware County clerk's office last week.

County Clerk Rick Spangler said the new devices are being introduced across the state and maintain an ongoing paper audit of the election as voting takes place to provide better security.

Spangler said the county had one of the VVPAT devices in use during the 2022 primary at a machine used at the county building for early voting. The device provides a printed record of a vote in real time that can be used to audit vote tallies shown by the vote machines.

Josh Taulbee, county voter registration clerk, said the company brought the device recently to the county for additional staff training.

From May:Delaware County primary count held up by glitch, procedure problems

The VVPAT devices will be used increasingly throughout the state, eventually being used in all Indiana counties in the next presidential election in 2024, Spangler said.

The cost for the VVPAT is being covered by state government,  not by local counties, Spangler added.

The program has been promoted by current Indiana Secretary of State Holli Sullivan, whose office oversees elections in Indiana. Earlier this month, Sullivan lost her bid to be nominated for another term at the state Republican convention.

Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler examines a new voter machine setup the state will be delivering to counties in the next couple of years. The machines as equipped with a voter-verified paper audit trail device that will great a record of each vote for recount purposes.

Earlier:Ball State's VSTOP group called on to audit more local elections in Indiana this fall

Spangler said Sullivan's loss at the state convention was tied to Gov. Eric Holcomb, who appointed her to the office in 2021.

The Delaware County clerk said he was a supporter of Sullivan but "she was a Holcomb ally. Holcomb allies did not do well at the convention."

Republicans instead nominated Diego Morales, who served as a advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence while Pence was governor of Indiana.

Spangler said no matter who is elected the next Indiana secretary of state, the VVPAT devices will be put into use across the state. 

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David Penticuff is the local government reporter at the Star Press. Contact him at dpenticuff@gannett.com.