Board of Elections seeks equipment upgrades, reopens four polling centers; county approves budget amendment for polling sites and equipment

The Jefferson County Board of Elections presented its 2025 election preparation plan to the Finance and Rules committee and the legislature approved a budget amendment to pay for additional polling sites, special-election expenses and related equipment.

Commissioners Tiffany Ladd (Republican) and Michelle Lefebvre (Democrat) described routine and unanticipated costs: new iPad-based poll books the vendor will no longer support on older devices, additional poll-machine deliveries for new sites and an upcoming special election in U.S. House District 21 if the congressional vacancy is formally declared.

The state awarded the county a $79,000 grant to assist with purchase of new tablets for poll books. Commissioners said the vendor released a new iPad model on March 12 and the county moved quickly to secure the updated devices rather than buy hardware nearing end-of-life. They also reported extra costs from an as-yet-unscheduled special election and the need for more tabulators and poll worker staffing at reopened sites.

The Board of Elections said it will reopen four polling centers in the county: Fisher’s Landing, Midtown Towers, Trinity Church and the Belleville Fire Department. For the city of Watertown and the town of Watertown, the commissioners said the county will operate nine voting centers where voters can cast ballots at any of the designated sites in the city or town; poll pads will present the voter’s correct ballot on demand.

The commissioners also described a move toward ballot-on-demand printing. A vendor demo showed a thermal printer that prints ballots sized to the voter’s district at the polling site; the BOE said switching to on-demand ballots could sharply reduce blank preprinted ballot purchases (the county spent about $41,000 on preprinted ballots last year) and reduce storage needs. The vendor is scheduled to test the on-demand thermal printer during the June primary.

The committee and later the full legislature approved an amendment to the 2025 county budget for opening additional polling sites, special-election expenses and polling equipment by voice vote. The BOE said it will continue to train poll workers and coordinate machine delivery logistics with county staff. Commissioners thanked county departments for assistance with truck drivers and storage logistics.

Commissioners emphasized outreach to voters about the new centers and said the voter information mailers will note the option to go to any of the designated city/town centers. They also noted that special-election scheduling depends on state rules once a vacancy is formally declared by the member of Congress; the BOE said the county’s timeline will be set by the governor’s scheduling requirements.