Polk County Prepares for Future with Verity Voting

LIVINGSTON, Texas, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Forward-looking Polk County Commissioners approved the most up-to-date technology available in the U.S. — the Verity® Voting system from Hart InterCivic — to replace an aging election system from another vendor. Verity will debut with voters in March 2018.

"We're looking forward to being able to program our elections much more quickly with Verity – its updated technology streamlines the process. Pre-election testing will be faster, too. Polk County will save on maintenance costs with the new system, and the units are not bulky and heavy like with our old system," said County Clerk Schelana Hock.

Selecting Verity Touch for efficient, secure electronic voting will allow the County to eventually transition to popular Vote Centers. Consolidating vote locations in this manner reduces the demand for hard-to-find poll workers, and the convenience of Vote Centers can increase voter turnout. Nearby San Jacinto County selected Verity earlier this year as the best system to support its Vote Centers.

Verity Touch and Controller options will improve the experiences of voters and poll workers. Touch includes a voter-friendly, intuitive touchscreen. In addition, the system's lightweight, removable tablet and accessibility features accommodate all voters, including those with disabilities.

"Voters will find Verity more user-friendly and easy to use," said Hock.

Hart's unique controller-model voting system, which can connect up to 12 voting terminals for central management from a single console, will improve efficiency. It is user friendly for poll workers and will reduce risk and minimize errors. Poll workers will open polls, close polls, and run reports on only one machine – the Controller –  in each polling place, rather than performing every task on every device separately. With only one data storage medium per polling place to read into the tabulation computer at the elections office, election night results reporting is fast.

"We welcome Polk County to the Hart family," said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic. "We have served Texas voters for more than 100 years and look forward to sharing our experience as Polk makes this upgrade. Verity offers modern, flexible options that will adapt to their changing needs for years to come."

Verity is a federally and state certified system designed from the ground up to be secure and adaptable with all new hardware and software. Election managers appreciate Verity's reliable technology and its user-friendly approach.

With this upgrade, Polk County joins a growing number of Texas jurisdictions acting now to prepare for future elections. Since the Texas Secretary of State certified the latest release of Hart InterCivic's Verity® Voting system in mid-December, Hart has shipped more than 7,000 Verity devices across the State. 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 this year.

Learn more about Verity in Texas: http://www.hartintercivic.com/texas4verity.

About Hart InterCivic, Inc.
Austin-based Hart InterCivic is a full-service election solutions innovator, partnering with state and local governments to deliver secure, accurate and reliable elections. Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. Hart's mission fuels its passionate customer focus and a continuous drive for technological innovation. The company's new Verity Voting system makes voting more straightforward, equitable and accessible—and makes managing elections more transparent, more efficient and easier. Only Hart offers a completely new, certified voting system with both electronic and paper options.

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SOURCE Hart InterCivic