Deputy Elections Officer Amie Jackson tells KVOE News it was important to have the new equipment available before the upcoming elections Aug. 7 -- simply because the voting steps are slightly different than the longstanding equipment in place since 2000 and 2001. That's evident at the start of the process, where voters will now be handed two pieces of paper as opposed to a card.

From there, Jackson says the process is simple and fast -- and if you mess up, you can go back and change your vote before casting your ballot.

The final step in the process is placing your ballot in a vote tabulator, which will count both the ballot activator cards and the actual ballots.

Ballot security has become a major concern nationwide, and Jackson says the new equipment continues county policy towards 100-percent security. All the county's equipment is on a secure, offline, stand-alone network, and the county also programs and prints all its ballots instead of having that done offsite. There is also a public test of the voting equipment a few days before each election.

Close to 80 people tried out the new equipment.

Photos by Chuck Samples/KVOE News