New equipment would speed election process, says Pace "I think we've got to get with this century," admits Summit County Clerk Reed Pace. "I will be proposing to the county commissioners commission-ers that we investigate the purchase of electronic voting equipment." A snafu in last week's election returns demonstrated an increasing problem in the victory of former Park City School board president Gary Avise over Precinct 1 challenger Ed Axtell in the Park City school board race. In a recount Axtell was declared the winner. In addition, on election day county workers in Coalville and election judges in a number of districts worked from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., more than seven hours after the polls closed, to tally the votes. "I think the cost of electronic voting equipment would be around $40,000 for the entire county," said Pace. "Ideally, I'd like to get it before Park City's election for mayor and council next year and we could experiment a bit with the process then." If the county switches to electronic equipment the number of election judges needed at each district would be cut irt half, said Pace. Finding the necessary six judges for each district has proven to be a greater challenge in the past few years, he added. "People used to see being a judge as part of their civic duty. Now so many people work and don't want to take time away from their jobs to be judges." Then there is the matter of the hoilr when officials could go home on election night. This year in Summit County it was 3 a.m. Pace said counties with electronic equipment did a good deal better. "I talked to several other counties who use the equipment and most of them were home by 11 p.m." said Pace.