Wrightsville pilots cost-saving voting program

Wrightsville Beach is a coastal community in which people are generally concerned
about impacts on the environment, so its no wonder why even the town polling place will be a little greener than the rest of the county.
Wrightsville Beach is the only municipality in New Hanover County—and one of a handful across the state—to pilot a new voting system that will save the board of elections time and money, lead to increased accuracy, and is environmentally friendly, said an elections official.
The Onsite Voter Registration Database acts as an electronic poll-book, where software on a laptop computer allows the poll-worker to look the voter up electronically and print their authorization to vote form on site, said Michelle Mrozkowski, information systems technician at the county board of elections.
Usually, the board has to prepare for a 100 percent turnout, meaning it has to keep paper forms in case every single voter in Wrightsville Beach comes to the polls. In off-year elections, turnout is generally low; in the 2007 election cycle in Wrightsville it was about 33 percent. Low turnout translates into masses of wasted paper, stored for a specified period of time before being incinerated.
Currently, these leftover pollbooks are being housed at the main branch of the New Hanover County Library on Chestnut Street.
Onsite electronic registration also leads to increased accuracy, Mrozkowski stated, because voter history is recorded electronically and can be quickly uploaded, as opposed to being entered by humans who are known to make mistakes.
If this method expands across the entire county, it could significantly drive down the cost of printing and curb the election board’s expenses. There is an initial investment in placing laptops and printers in every precinct throughout the county, but the benefits would eventually pay for themselves.

—Brian Freskos