Rensselaer County

When Rensselaer County was presented with the opportunity to pilot Clear Ballot's latest on-demand ballot printing system during a recent school election and their June primary, they seized the opportunity to test the new hardware rather than purchasing a large volume of pre-printed ballots. At the selected polling location, the county used two of Clear Ballot's thermal printers in coordination with their electronic poll books to provide ballots for each voter. For county Election Commissioners Mary Sweeney and Henry Zwack, it was paramount that all voters were receiving the right ballot each time, quickly and efficiently, without room for human error.

"If you want to run a secure election and get it right the first time, this is a product you need to look at," said Zwack.

With the future potential of county-wide polling locations, new poll workers, and numerous election districts, being able to eliminate the potential for the wrong ballots to make it to the polls or a voter to receive the incorrect ballot was greatly beneficial for Rensselaer County's team.

"We can send out a PrintNow and all we have to worry about is how many rolls of paper we have. It doesn't get easier than that," said Zwack.

On Election Day, the county was particularly impressed by how easy to use the system was, with poll workers able to successfully print ballots for voters with just ten minutes of training. Throughout the day, voters were able to check in, receive their printed ballot, and cast their votes in minutes.

"If your inspectors find i t easy to use, that's 90% of the battle. I t was amazing how quickly our inspectors picked up on it," said Sweeney. "I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to another county."