Illinoisans to use six types of voting machines in upcoming election

[November 02, 2022]  By Andrew Hensel | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The general election is under a week away in Illinois and the Illinois State Board of Elections gives insight into what kind of machines will be used to tally the vote.   

Early voting has already begun in Illinois, but many residents will head to their local voting centers this week to cast their ballots in the Nov. 8th election.

At polling places across the state, Illinois voters will use one of six different voting machines. The Democracy Suite 5.6-D, the EVS 5.5.0.3 machine, the Unity 3.4.1.1 machine, GEMS 1.18.24 machine, Verity Voting 2.6 machine, or the OpenElect 2.1.0.2 voting machine will all be used in the coming week.

Illinois Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said the voting machines are vetted before use.

"There are six voting systems that are certified for use in Illinois, and we do the certifying," Dietrich said. "Before any machine is used in any polling place, it must first pass inspection."

Dietrich also broke down how each jurisdiction gets its machine.

"We have the six systems available, and one of the 108 local election authorities in Illinois can choose from any of those six," Dietrich told The Center Square.

The Democracy Suite 5.6-D is made by Dominion. Controversy developed around the 2020 presidential election with some making unsupported claims that the company's equipment could change or delete votes.

Voters in Chicago and Cook County will use the the Democracy Suit machine with Dominion as the support vendor, but Dietrich said Illinoisans have nothing to worry about.

"Dominion is one of the largest manufacturers in voting equipment, and some of the claims of the machines being programmed in Venezuela or being hacked by satellite is really crazy stuff," Dietrich said. "It is completely untrue and unfounded, and in fact Dominion is suing a number of those media outlets who repeated those outlandish statements."

According to information from the Illinois State Board of Elections, Dominion's Gems 1.18.24 machines will be used with a separate vendor in Cass, Ford, Fulton, Greene, Iroquois, Jackson, Knox, McDonough, McLean, Perry, Piatt, Pope, Rock Island, Saline, Schuyler, Scott, Warren and Washington.

Voters can visit their local polling place to cast their ballot or vote by mail by applying on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Andrew Hensel has years of experience as a reporter and pre-game host for the Joliet Slammers, and as a producer for the Windy City Bulls. A graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University and Illinois Media School, Andrew lives in the south suburbs of Chicago.