AMARILLO, Texas, August 15 – Yesterday, the Potter County Commissioners Court okayed the purchase of Hart InterCivic’s Verity®Voting system. The County’s initiative to replace its aging voting system brings voters the newest, most secure system in the industry.
“We are grateful our Commissioners acted swiftly to approve Verity,” said Melynn Huntley, Potter County Elections Administrator. “Our intention was to upgrade to a reliable new system that is easy for poll workers to operate and intuitive for voters to use. We also set requirements for ADA compliance to ensure that all voters have the accessibility features needed to vote privately and independently. In all these areas, Verity outflanked the other systems we saw during our rigorous comparison of available options.”
County officials were especially impressed with Hart’s unique controller model for centralized management of its Verity Touch direct record electronic (DRE) voting devices. With the Verity Controller central command console, poll workers will open polls, close polls, and run reports on only one machine in each polling place, rather than having to perform all these tasks on every device separately as they had to do with the previous system. Elections office staff will only need to program the Controllers, one for each polling place, rather than every single voting device used in the election as they did before; this will greatly reduce time and effort spent in the warehouse. Additionally, the County will be able to report results much more quickly than in the past.
“Verity is ideal for the way we conduct elections in Potter County,” said Huntley. “We use Vote Centers, so we need to use an electronic system. Life will be so much easier for our poll workers with Verity. The polling place units are small and lightweight, and it’s simple to remove the tablet for at-the-curb voting. It is very easy for voters, too, especially since our county seat, Amarillo, spans both Potter and Randall counties. Now all our voters will use the same system.”
“Hart InterCivic has an excellent reputation for customer service,” Huntley continued. “Our neighboring county, Randall, is a longtime Hart customer and has nothing but good to say about the company.”
“Potter County is a welcome addition to the growing Hart and Verity family,” said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic. “Customers who come to us from other vendors often express surprise and delight at the efficiencies Verity provides and at the level of service our team delivers. We look forward to a long, successful partnership with the County.”
Since the Texas Secretary of State certified the latest release of Hart InterCivic’s Verity® Voting system in mid-December, 17 Texas counties have purchased the state-of-the-art system. Federally certified in 2015, the secure and efficient system is also in use in numerous counties throughout the U.S.
Braithwaite expects more Texas announcements in the coming weeks.
For more information about the Verity Voting system, please visit www.hartintercivic.com/verityoverview.