Tomorrow is the Sioux Falls school board election and new technology will allow any registered voter to vote at any polling place - regardless of address. The change is saving the district thousands of dollars and reducing the number of poll workers by 66 percent. We are trying out some new technology to make that happen, it is a trial base to see how well it works. We are going to give you a look at what you can expect tomorrow when you vote.
"A voter comes to vote they will get out their drivers license , hand it to the poll workers, you will say your name, and the poll worker will lay the license under the scanner, then the information will pop up on the screen, it will say vote, then the voter will sign a signature pad just like what you would do at the bank. Then the poll worker will hit accept, and a receipt will print. Once that is printed, they will hand that to the voter and the voter will get the ballot. Everything is the same as it was before they just take the ballot and fill in the bubbles on the ballots," explains Bev Chase with the Sioux Falls School District. Katie: What's the advantage of doing it this way?
Bev: This way it allows us to use vote centers and vote centers have every voter in the poll book. We do not require people to go to a certain place to vote, the voter can go anywhere to vote where ever they are in the city that day. This eliminates old days of polling places, and for the voters its more convenient, a voter coming to the wrong place, anywhere they come to vote it will be the right place.
The polls are open from seven in the morning until seven at night. We've put a link on our website for all the polling places, just click on Newslinks at the top of the home page.