| County clerks around WV are taking over nearly all the duties related to holding elections, according to Calhoun Clerk Richard Kirby.
"You will no longer go to the Circuit Clerks office to place a name on the ballot," said Kirby, who said his office is also now responsible for publishing the ballots.
"While it means more work for county clerks, it should be helpful to citizens to have all election needs in one place," Kirby said.
Calhoun will receive a new optional scan machine through the Secretary of State's office. The scanner is used for vote counting.
"The Secretary of State's Office has offered to every single county, using HAVA (Help America Vote Act) funds, a free optical scan system which is a paper-based ballot that you fill out similarly to your SAT score," says Secretary of State Betty Ireland.
The 2002 Federal Help America Vote Act mandates that changes be made to how Americans, including West Virginians, vote.
The most effective system has been optical scanners, which have been in use by Calhoun for the past several years.
"The machine has performed really well," said Kirby. "In fact, the count issued by the machine is frequently more accurate than people counting the ballots."
Some counties are opting to go with touch screen systems, but with little financial support from the state.
The Help America Vote Act mandates that the new voting machines must be in place by January 1st of next year. Counties have until October 15th to notify the Secretary of State's Office what voting method they'll be using, either the optical scan or the touch screens. | 
