Electronic voting

The Jefferson County Board of Elections should be congratulated for the successful debut of its new electronic voting machines.

Throughout the county, poll workers were well trained in helping voters cast their ballots in the new system.

Actually, the process for individual voters was not too difficult. Voters used pens to mark their choices on paper ballots which were then fed into a machine that scanned and recorded the votes.

Pretty smooth. And the voting results in Jefferson County were efficiently tabulated, recorded and posted.

The switch to electronic machines is in compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, meant to make voting accessible for the disabled and avoid the kinds of problems that developed during the 2000 presidential race.

The process worked well in Jefferson County. Congratulations to Republican Elections Commissioner Jerry O. Eaton and his Democratic counterpart Sean M. Hennessey for a job well done.