Buchanan County Election Officials tested new machines Tuesday that will be used by voters for the first time in the April election.

“We have a bipartisan team that comes in to test each machine to make sure they’re working accurately,” said Mary Baack-Garvey, Buchanan County Clerk. “Also learning about the new machines because none of us have worked with them before.”

Baack-Garvey said the new machines are quicker and lighter than the old ones were.

“It’s all girls in the office so lugging 60 pound equipment from point-a to point-b gets kind of old and with our election judges who are a little older then us it’s got to be hard on them as well,” Baack-Garvey said. “So it’s going to be a lot easier process for our judges.”

During the test ballots were run through the machines over and over to make sure the machines read the marks correctly.

“Coming up in training in a couple of weeks for our election judges it will be a little more thorough for them so that they really know the odds and ends of the machine,” Baack-Garvey said.

The cost for the machines was under $300,000, a cost Baack-Garvey is hopeful the state will reimburse the county for.

“We’re looking to hopefully get reimbursed from the state because the state mandated us to upgrade and get new equipment,” she said. “We have our fingers crossed for that reimbursement.”

The new machines will be used at all polling places for the first time in Buchanan County during the April 7 election.

She said the only thing voters will really notice is the ballots will be a little smaller.