Tuesday will be the ballotcounting maiden voyage for four of the town’s eight new digital voting machines.

Brunswick received the DS 200 optical scan ballot counters in December. State and local elections set for Nov. 5 will be the first time the town will have used them.

The machines, manufactured by Electronic Systems and Software Inc., were linked to tally mistotals or improper ballot counts in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and New York from 2008 to 2010.

As recently as August, the same model voting machines in the U.S. Virgin Islands were under threat of decertification by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission because of problems that caused the machines to jam, shut down and miscount votes.

Most of the errors were attributed to a software version which ES&S reportedly had updated or replaced in its newer machines.

The town bore no expense and exercised no choice in acquiring the new machines. Rather, the make and model were decided by the state’s Department of Elections and paid for with federal funds.

They replaced vote counters the town had used for about 20 years and should result in faster counting, Town Clerk Fran Smith said.

“It’s a five-year lease,” Smith said. “They’re definitely more modern than the old machines.”

All of Brunswick’s eight new machines have been tested and performed without any glitches, Smith said.

Because turnout next week is expected to be relatively light, only four machines — two each for the state bond questions and local races — will be set up at the central voting location at Brunswick Junior High School, 65 Columbia Ave. Polling hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

DS 200s have a digital screen that alerts voters to potential errors with the paper ballots. But the screen is purely informational, not interactive, Smith said.

“It only tells you if there’s something wrong with the ballot, whether you overvoted (by filling out both choices to one of the candidates questions or bond issues) or left it completely blank,” she said.

No changes are made at the machines. If an error occurs, a voter can take a new ballot back to the polling booth to be correctly filled out.

Tuesday’s election features three locally contested races — one for Town Council and two for School Board — in addition to five state bond questions asking voters to approve hundreds of millions in borrowing for improvements to Maine’s infrastructure and community college system.

In District 6, School Board incumbent Janet Connors is challenged by Daniel Hammond Jr., while Jane Millett and Alison Harris both seek the Town Council seat being vacated by incumbent Margo Knight.

In District 1, School Board incumbent Rich Ellis faces a challenge from former board member Byron Watson.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com