The federal Help America Vote Act has provided thousands of dollars in funding to Clallam and Jefferson counties to update voting technology, the state’s chief elections officer said Thursday.
Secretary of State Sam Reed, speaking to a group of about 50 business owners, residents and community leaders, said the act allocated $127,500 to Jefferson County and $229,000 for Clallam County to upgrade election technology. The funding has been used to replace the punchcard voting system with optical-scan ballots in both counties.
Jefferson County already uses optical ballots, and Clallam County is replacing the punchcard system with the electronic ballots.
Help America Vote Act is a federal reform package passed by Congress after the polling problems of the 2000 presidential election in Florida.
—————–
The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.