Voters will see new print-on-demand-ballot system next election cycle

By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1

With the election season firmly behind the 4.5 million Kentuckians and behind the roughly 45,000 Barren County residents, Barren County Clerk Helena Birdwell said the election went well despite the lower turnout. According to the Secretary of State’s website, this year 11,947 out of 32,080 registered voters in the county cast their ballot on Nov. 7, that equates to 37.24 percent turnout representing the second lowest turnout since 2015 — which was 31.1 percent.

Birdwell said the low turnout was due to the fact that there were no local races up for election this time around. Even the two relatively local racse — constables for the first and fourth magisterial districts — both received zero percent of the votes cast because no one filed to run as a write-in, according to Birdwell. She said she will work with the county judge-executive to appoint people for those positions.

Next year the election, both the general and the primary, will feature more local races including all three city governments, the circuit court clerk and several school board positions thus she expects a higher voter turnout in 2024. Along with the local races appearing on the ballot, they will also be printed with the new print-on-demand ballot system, Birdwell said.

“Other counties across the state have already switched to it,” Birdwell said. “We were lucky enough to get some grant money and make a purchase of this program at quite a bit of money but it’s going to be a huge asset to us.”

This print-on-demand ballot system removes some of the human error from the process. Whereas in this past election, and in elections past, poll workers have had to hand tear ballots based on the number on people’s receipts, this new system will print a ballot “within seconds” based on a scan of the voter’s receipt.

Birdwell said they got these machines — roughly 22 of them — through a grant they applied for through the commonwealth’s Board of Elections. She had hoped to have them by November’s election but the influx of counties purchasing these machines caused delays. She said they should have the new equipment by the beginning of 2024.

This new equipment will require additional training for the workers who traditionally hand-tear the ballot that will now scan receipts, but Birdwell said she hopes this will make the election process more efficient and convenient.

“That’ll be additional training for our workers, but everybody is excited about it,” Birdwell said. “I’m excited about it…We don’t want voters to get frustrated, we want it to be fast and easy.”