What kind of machine will you vote on?

More than 7.7 million registered Ohio voters will have the opportunity to vote at one of more than 8,900 precincts next month. Here’s an explanation of

new elections technology that area counties purchased last year and will be in use for the March 17 primary.

Counties: Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Miami, Warren Company:

ClearBallot

Models: ClearCast, ClearAccess Type: Optical scan Voters mark a paper ballot, which is then fed through the digital-scan, tabletop precinct tabulator. For people with disabilities, the ClearAccess system operates on an unmodified, off-the-shelf touchscreen tablet, which captures voters’ choices and prints machine-readable ballots.

Counties: Darke, Montgomery

Company: Election Systems & Software

Models: ExpressVote, DS200 Type: Optical scan Voters can fill out a paper ballot directly or choose to use the paper-based ExpressVote system’s touch-screen technology to produce a paper record for tabulation. The ExpressVote handles the ballot marking process, then the ballot is fed through the DS200 optical scanner for tabulation. The system is ADA compliant.

Counties: Butler, Greene

Company: Dominion Voting Systems

Model: ImageCast X Type: Direct record electronic (DRE) Voters using the direct record electronic tabulator place an access card into a touchscreen device to cast their ballots. An electronic record is stored on the machine which also generates a voter verified paper audit trail. The system also accommodates voters with disabilities

County: Preble

Company: Election Systems & Software Model: DS200

Type: Optical Scan Voters mark a paper ballot, which is then fed through the DS200 optical scanner for tabulation. The county also uses the ExpressVote touchscreen system, also available for those with disabilities.