LUBBOCK, Texas, Jan. 3, 2017 – Lubbock County election officials are breaking new ground – again. The county that pioneered the convenient Vote Center concept in Texas will debut the most advanced voting system certified in the U.S. when polls open for the May Uniform election.
With more than 150,000 registered voters and growing, Lubbock County chose to adopt the new Verity® Voting system from its longtime vendor, Hart InterCivic. Recently certified by the Texas Secretary of State’s office. Verity has passed rigorous testing at the stateand federal levels.
Lubbock’s Election Administrator, Dorothy Kennedy, has helped many other counties understand the steps for moving to Vote Centers. It was natural that the forward-looking county would be among the first to choose Verity when the State of Texas approved the system’s new electronic voting functionality.
The easy-to-use Verity system will add to the convenience of Vote Centers, which are growing in popularity for medium and large jurisdictions.
“The largest reason Lubbock’s County Commissioners chose Verity is the great customer service Hart has given us for more than 11 years,” said Dorothy Kennedy, Elections Administrator. “We know from experience that the products Hart builds do what they’re supposed to do. The choice is a good one, not just from a mechanical perspective, but from a person-to-person one.”
Kennedy’s office plans to work closely with other counties as they adopt Verity. Kennedy added, “We’re happy to say yes to other counties that have questions or need help. Lubbock always takes the approach that we’re all in elections together. Any county – large, medium or small – has something to offer. If we take off our glasses and see through theirs, we get a lot of neat ideas.”
“We love seeing counties sharing best practices and helping each other,” said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic. “Dorothy Kennedy and Lubbock County have been progressive promoters of efficient elections and processes. With more than 111 Hart partners across the state, we are proud to see them learn from each other. We learn a lot, too; Verity was designed with input from all over the state.”
With the new Verity electronic voting release certified for Texas purchase, many counties find that it makes sense to choose Verity while keeping the same customer service and relationships they have had with Hart for more than a decade. Hart is headquartered in Austin and has more than 100 years of history in the election business.
The move to Verity’s easy-to-use, compact polling place devices made operational and financial sense for Lubbock County. Kennedy is also looking forward to using the system’s new software, which greatly simplifies the process of creating ballots.
Since the U.S. Election Assistance Commission certified Verity’s first release in May 2015, jurisdictions in eight states have adopted the system.
Braithwaite anticipates more Verity announcements from Texas counties in the coming weeks.
Learn more about Verity in Texas: https://www.hartintercivic.com/texas4verity.