County election administrator briefs commissioners on ExpressVote contract for school elections

Tony Hoffland, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County election administrator, briefed the commission during the March 10 work session on an election contract that has been used since 2021 to allow local school districts to use one ExpressVote accessible voting machine for school elections.

Hoffland said the contract is essentially unchanged from prior years and that the ExpressVote machine provides accessibility features including audio ballots, sip-and-puff controls, magnification and the ability to switch display screens for visually impaired voters, enabling disabled voters to vote in privacy and secrecy. Commissioners asked clarifying questions about mail-in ballots and the statutory requirement that accessible machines remain available even for mail-in school elections.

No commission action on the contract was recorded during the meeting (the item was described as on the agenda and staff invited questions). If the contract proceeds, it would continue the county's practice of making at least one accessible voting machine available for school elections.