The Chesapeake General Registrar's Office implemented new voting equipment at each polling place before the November 2017 General Election and Special Elections. This replacement of voting equipment was due to the Virginia State Board of Elections voting to decertify all direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting equipment across Virginia on September 8, 2017.
Most voters will use Verity Scan, a precinct-based, digital ballot-imaging voting terminal. It takes a few seconds for the Scanner to read both sides of a paper ballot in one pass, and the voter knows in less than five seconds if his ballot is accepted or rejected. Accurate, secure and easy to operate, the Verity Scan uses advanced digital technology. Recorded ballots drop automatically into a locked ballot box to create a secure, verifiable paper record of the votes cast.
Voters with Disabilities can use the Verity Touch Writer, a voting machine which has a touch screen and set of distinctly shaped control buttons and Select Wheel easy for voters to understand and use. Voters will be presented with a summary of their votes before they can activate the "Print Ballot" button, allowing for second chance vote changes as required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.
The Chesapeake General Registrar's Office began using DemTech’s Advocate pollbook system in all precincts beginning in 2011. In 2022 the city replaced Advocate with DemTech’s new ePollTab sytem for electronic pollbooks used in all of the polling places. The electronic pollbook contains information that gives the Officers of Election the ability to verify voter identity, eligibility, and to find out if the voter has requested an absentee ballot or already voted. The Pollbooks used on Election Day are created after early voting has ended to ensure that all voter data is the most recent and up to date. Pollbooks are then loaded, tested and secured for use on Election Day.
