POMEROY, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garfield County is moving forward with the most modern, secure voting technology available, the new Verity® Voting system from long-time election partner Hart InterCivic. Taking delivery in mid-March, Garfield County officials made their choice based on a history of outstanding support and trustworthy equipment from Hart.
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“Hart makes good products, and we’ve been happy working with them. The equipment is so reliable that I may go a whole year without needing to call with an issue,” said County Auditor Donna Deal, who has more than 30 years’ experience working with elections.
“When we decided it was time to replace our equipment from 2006, we asked around at last year’s election conference. It was a good way to hear what everyone was saying about the different vendors,” she said. “Hart gets good marks, plus they came through with pricing that meets the needs of a county our size.”
“We appreciate Garfield County’s confidence in Hart. They join a growing number of Verity partners in Washington and the Northwest,” said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic, a U.S. company with more than 100 years of experience providing election solutions. “Hart pioneered digital ballot scanning, and Verity incorporates the most flexible, efficient high-speed scanning solution on the market.”
As Garfield County officials weighed options for new voting technology, they worked with neighboring counties Asotin and Columbia. Ultimately, all three chose Verity to support their joint continuity of operations planning (COOP).
“We share resources when we can. Since Verity is designed so that no specific information lives on the computer, if something goes wrong, we can borrow a scanner from a neighbor to get our votes counted,” Deal said. “Having a backup makes good sense for all of us.”
Deal is taking delivery of the new Verity system this week and expects training to be scheduled soon. “We’ll likely train alongside Columbia and Asotin and then get individual help as needed. It’s another advantage of having neighboring counties adopt Verity at the same time.”
With their first election scheduled for August, Deal is looking forward to Verity’s efficient ballot design process using Verity Build. “It’s a very simple ballot, but I’m expecting that what used to take me two days will take only a few hours now,” she said.
The County will also debut the Verity Touch Writer unit for ADA compliant accessible voting. The unit is a standalone ballot marking device with an audio tactile interface (ATI) that allows voters to generate a paper ballot marked with their selections. The ballot is counted following regular processing procedures for by-mail ballots.
Federally and state certified since 2015, Verity is in use in numerous jurisdictions throughout the U.S., and recently adopted by Washington’s Clark County, which processes more than 200,000 mail-in ballots over a typical election cycle.
Braithwaite expects more announcements throughout the year as additional jurisdictions adopt Verity to replace aging election technology.
Austin-based Hart InterCivic is a full-service election solutions innovator, partnering with state and local governments to deliver secure, accurate and reliable elections. Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. Hart's mission fuels its passionate customer focus and a continuous drive for technological innovation. The company's new Verity Voting system makes voting more straightforward, equitable and accessible—and makes managing elections more transparent, more efficient and easier.
