Ada Co. hosts mock election Feb. 20

Ada County is holding a mock election for anyone who wants to learn how to use the new voting system. It's scheduled for tomorrow, Feb. 20 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Here is the full list of locations: 

?  Boise Library, 715 S. Capitol Blvd.

?  Boise Lake Hazel Branch Library, 10489 Lake Hazel Road

?  Eagle Library, 100 N. Stierman Way

?  Garden City Library, 6015 N. Glenwood St.

?  Kuna High School, 637 E. Deer Flat Road

?  Meridian Cherry Lane Branch Library, 1326 W. Cherry Lane

As Roland Beres reported earlier this month, voters will not notice much difference when they vote. They will still receive a paper ballot and use a pen or pencil to fill in a box indicating their selection. The biggest change will be how and where the county counts ballots.

Prior to the purchase of the new machines Ada County was using a central counting system. When election day polls closed at 8 p.m. workers from nearly 140 polling places scurried to deliver ballots to the central election office for counting. Most ballots arrived about the same time, but then sat and waited to be fed into counting machines.  The new voting machines will instead count the ballots at the polling place itself.