Minneapolis Metro Area Getting Faster Voting Machines

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Faster voting machines are arriving in the Minneapolis metro area just in time to help handle an expansion of absentee voting in Minnesota.

Reports say six of the seven metro-area counties are replacing hundreds of 13-year-old optical-scan ballot-counting machines. The new machines are expected to be in place in time for city council primaries in August in Bloomington, St. Louis Park and Minnetonka.

The new machines will read and count paper ballots like the old ones do. But a 12-inch display screen will alert voters if a ballot error is made and provide instructions to correct it.

Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky says the old machines were reliable and accurate, but ballots had to be hand-fed one at a time. The new ones should allow for faster processing.