Touchscreen voting that is accessible and verifiable is now available for early voting at the Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections Department and Watsonville City ClerkÕs Office.

The touchscreen voting units with a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) meet the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act that requires all polling places in the nation to provide a voting system that enables voters with disabilities to vote independently and privately. A touchscreen unit will be available at each polling site in Santa Cruz County on Election Day, November 7. Early voting on the touchscreen units is available during regular business hours at the Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections Department located at 701 Ocean Street, Room 210, in Santa Cruz, and Watsonville City ClerkÕs Office, 215 Union Street, Second Floor, in Watsonville. Extended voting hours will be available on the weekend prior to the Election, November 4 and 5, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Santa Cruz County ClerkÕs Office and Watsonville City Hall.

The new voting system being introduced this November is a blended system that offers voters at the polls paper ballots that will be scanned and tabulated at the polls, the same paper ballots for voters who vote by mail, plus the one accessible touchscreen unit with paper audit trail at each polling place. The voting system the County is purchasing from Sequoia has been federally qualified and state certified.