On Thursday, Sept. 20, voting machines being considered for purchase and use in Shelby County will be available for viewing by the public. Any people interested in seeing the machines may drop by the offices of Shelby County Code Enforcement Training Center at 6465 Mullins Station Road in Memphis between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Linda Phillips, administrator of elections for the Shelby County Election Commission, instructed the vendors to display only machines that produce a voter-verified paper trail.
Machines used in Shelby County must be certified by the US Election Assistance Commission and the State Election Commission in Nashville. Four vendors have machines that are certified for use in Tennessee.
The vendors are Texas-based Hart InterCivic, California-based Unisys Voting Solutions, Dominion Voting, a Canadian company with U.S. headquarters in Denver, and ES&S, a Nebraska-based company.
“All of the vendors have agreed to attend, and they are bringing display models,” Phillips said. “The vendors will each give a demonstration for the public.”
Attendees will have the opportunity to fill out a comment card for each machine.
“We want to give the public a chance to see the machines, because we’ll be using them for years to come,” Phillips said. “While we will consider the input from the public, our first priorities for purchasing the machine are security and ballot creation.”
It is not necessary for people to make reservations or call the Shelby County Election Commission, but there may be wait times depending on the crowd size.
