Denver voters who cast ballots in person will use computer tablets to make their choices, after City Council approved a fourth amendment to a contract with Dominion Voting Systems and the expenditure of $932,633.23 to purchase Dominion’s voting equipment and software at the council’s Sept. 26 meeting.

On Dec. 22, 2015, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced the selection of the Denver-based company as the sole provider of Colorado’s uniform voting system, after a multiyear, competitive and transparent process among four systems. Adoption of a uniform voting system is part of Colorado’s modernization efforts to improve the elections process and voter experience.

Dominion’s Democracy Suite voting system uses commercially available, off-the-shelf hardware and Dominion’s software programs.

“I believe we can have a better voter experience, cost savings, efficiency and transparency,” with the Dominion system, said Amber McReynolds, director of Denver elections, in a video explaining the system.

Dominion’s system cuts the number of voting center staff from as many as five under past systems to one, according to information from the division. The system is not connected to the internet to help ensure ballot security.

Amanda Beach, voter records manager for the division, said the system makes voting very easy.

“Voters will mark their ballot on the tablet and print it out in the voting booth,” she said. “And it integrates seamlessly with our back office process” where votes are tabulated.

After print out, voters place their ballot into ballot boxes for counting by Denver Elections Division staff. Workers can count ballots as they are cast, but no tallies will be run until polling centers close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Voters who cast ballots at the city’s 26 voter service and polling centers will use the Dominion system. Those centers will begin to open in three phases Oct. 17, which is also when mail-in ballots are sent to registered electors and 24-hour drop-off boxes are made available.

In the news release announcing Dominion’s choice as the statewide system, Williams noted Colorado had evaluated a uniform voting system for nearly three years. While serving as El Paso County clerk and recorder, he was appointed to a committee reviewing the issue.

Shortly after he took office in January 2015, Williams announced his intention to move Colorado toward a uniform voting system to, among other things, standardize training for election officials, administrators, and judges, wrote secretary of state Legislative Director Tim Griesmer in an email.

The office formed a review committee early last year to evaluate various voting systems and recommend a statewide system or systems, Griesmer added. Four systems were certified for testing in the 2015 coordinated election, and each were piloted in a large and small county. Dominion piloted its equipment in Denver and Mesa counties, Clear Ballot in Adams and Gilpin counties, Election Systems & Software in Jefferson and Teller counties, and Hart InterCivic in Douglas and Garfield counties. Ultimately, the committee recommended Dominion as the state’s voting system.

Currently, 18 counties have moved to the Dominion system, Griesmer wrote. Another 31 counties are tentatively planning to move to Dominion next year, while 15 counties have yet to announce plans about purchasing the system.

This January, Williams announced $850,000 would be available to help counties purchasing the new voting equipment over the next two years. The state used federal Help America Vote Act funds to cover 50 percent of a county’s costs to train, test, install and manage the system. Counties are still responsible for paying for the equipment.