Park County Clerk and Recorder Debra Green was notified at the end of December 2005 that Park County will receive funding of $121,400 from Colorado's allocation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The funds will finance the purchase of all new voting machines for Park County, including Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines and software required by HAVA for handicapped voters.

Green has been researching options for the purchase of new equipment for the 2006 election year and is glad for the financial support from HAVA funds. "Park County's current voting machines have been in use since 1993," Green said. The four manufacturers of voting and DRE machines - Sequoia, Diebold, Hart, and Election Systems and Software (ES&S) - will be contacted by the Clerk to determine the best system for Park County.

The Colorado Department of State received a total of $34.5 million to implement a statewide voter registration system and to acquire HAVA-compliant voting systems. Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis established a formula for distribution of those funds based on the relative number of voters and polling places in each county. Concerns about adequate voting systems in the state intensified last year when several counties in Colorado were forced to conduct a hand recount of ballots after the November 2005 election due to concerns with the optical scan systems in some voting machines.

Green is planning a demonstration of the new machines for the public and for election judges before 2006 voting begins. The Clerk's office is also currently considering the consolidation of some polling places to further reduce the costs of holding elections in Park County.