Commission approves web-based voter information system

Jessica Barnett, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·4 min read

Mar. 3—Voting on election day can be a relatively simple process — present ID, verify information, receive ballot, mark the circles, turn in ballot, receive "I Voted" sticker. However, making sure each voter gets the right ballot can involve consulting a variety of maps to determine which races and districts they're eligible for, which polling location they should visit and more.

As new addresses are added and new census counts give cause for redistricting, the maps are changing, meaning voters could end up in new districts, with new polling locations or with other changes to their usual Election Day routine. To make the process easier for the folks behind the scenes, the Limestone County Commission voted unanimously Monday to make Limestone the seventh county to work with Keet Consulting Services LLC for a web-based voter information system.

Sandy Smith, chairman of the Limestone County Board of Registrars, which handles voter registration, said it's a move they are excited about.

"It's going to be a lot less work on us and the probate office, as far as elections go," she said.

Currently, board members have to enter new information manually. If new streets are built for a housing development, the board gathers as much information as they can and manually enters the data into the system, then determines the polling locations and races each home is qualified for. In some cases, neighbors may vote for the same state official but different county officials, even if they live next door or right across the street from one another.

"It's a layer of district maps, and this just makes it all computerized and web-based, and merges it so whenever someone registers to vote or updates their registration because they've moved ... it automatically registers them in the right district," Limestone County Probate Judge Charles Woodroof said.

While Limestone County voters have not faced major issues yet, such as a voter receiving a ballot with the wrong school board seat, this would help eliminate the potential for human error, he said.

"With reapportionment and all these lines getting ready to be changed, it was the perfect timing to have this system available to the Board of Registrars," Woodroof said.

He said election officials visited Morgan County years ago to view their work with KCS and see how it could work for Limestone. Now that Limestone County has established itself as one of the fastest growing in the county and many of the district lines are drawn based on population numbers, Woodroof told The News Courier "it makes perfect sense" to adopt a web-based information system, the judge said.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity and how it could make this reapportion process much, much quicker and much more efficient in processing new voters ... to make sure they are properly assigned as we move to the 2022 (election) cycle," he said.

The redistricting process can take months to complete, according to Woodroof and Smith. With any luck, KCS will have its system set up by mid-April, Smith said, just in time for the U.S. Census Bureau to deliver the population counts used for reapportionment to President Joe Biden and well before redistricting counts are released to the states.

Other business

Commissioners also approved the following during their meeting Monday:

—Resolution to obtain financing and execute finance documents with Trustmark Bank for 10 2021 Mack Granite GR564 dump trucks and one 2021 Mack Pinnacle PI64T Low Boy Tractor;

—Merit increase for one employee; and

—Three subdivisions for a total of 26 lots in District 4.

Previous business

Commissioners approved the following during their meeting Feb. 22:

—Revising the budget to provide $4,800 for repair and maintenance related to a kidney dialysis van;

—Kyle Bridgeforth and Grady Congo for the Limestone County Water Sewer Authority Board, with terms ending Feb. 28, 2027;

—Personnel actions, including amendments to the county staffing plan and job descriptions, hiring a deputy sheriff and transferring an employee;

—Merit increases for 19 employees;

—Five subdivisions, for a total of 31 lots in District 3;

—Adopting an E-Verify policy; and

—Removing a 2001 Ford Explorer Unit 395 from the Council on Aging inventory.

Visit limestonecounty-al.gov/about/meetings-and-minutes/ for the full agenda and links to video recordings of previous meetings.