BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Hundreds of electronic devices aimed at adding speed and security at the voting polls in North Dakota will be distributed to the state’s 53 counties in the coming weeks.
The 990 poll books replace the paper process to check in voters that are used in most counties.
North Dakota has no voter registration, but maintains a central voter file which is a database of who has voted.
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“One of the things when it comes to election integrity is that once you come in and show your ID, that automatically goes back into our central voter file and so if you attempted to vote, let’s say, in Minot or drive up to Killdeer or some other place, they would know that you voted already,” Secretary of State Al Jaeger said Monday.
The state’s six or seven larger counties have been using the poll books already and by February every county will have them, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
Training sessions on new poll books begin next week for election officials.
The 2019 Legislature budgeted $11.2 million, including $3 million in federal funds, to replace the state’s 15-year-old voting machines and to provide for the new electronic poll books. Counties received the new voting equipment in August.
All of the new election equipment will be first used in the June 9 statewide primary election.
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