New voting system introduced in Oktibehha County

County officials and residents debate on the on how accurate the new voting system will be

OKTIBEHHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Voters in Oktibbeha County will mark their choices on paper ballots the next time they vote.

Circuit Clerk Tony Rook demonstrated the county’s new voting machines Wednesday.

The demonstration also served as training for poll workers and allowed election commissioners to see the machines in action.

With the new system, voters will mark their ballots with a pencil and the machines will tally the votes. The county’s previous system was all electronic.

Some Oktibbeha County residents expressed their concerns about their level of confidence in the system’s accuracy.

“I still have my doubts and I feel like I’ve been to this movie before -pretty much for years. We can solve the problem by having different voting booths. Ones that have a curtain you can pull across so nobody else can see how you voted.”

Rook said time and time again, voters insisted on turning in their ballots through a piece of paper.

“The one consistent thing that I hear is that voters want to be able to see their ballot,” said Rook. “They want to be able to touch their ballot. They want to be able to hold their ballot. Those are things that increase voter confidence and that’s what we have with this machine.”

The new machines will be put into use for the first time on November 2nd.