When Logan Countians go to the polls Tuesday for the Primary Election Day, they will have a chance to vote using some brand new electronic voting machines.

The equipment, called eScans, is a precinct-based voting system that digitally captures voter selections on printed ballots and integrates vote totals from absentee-by-mail and electronic voting systems to produce a single set of election reports.

Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson was in Russellville on Monday to talk about and demonstrate the new machines.

“This new equipment is user-friendly and provides voters with a very important tool in today's elections - a voter verified paper record,” Grayson said.

Voters will be given a sheet of paper with all the races on the ballot. They will then fill in a square next to the candidate they wish to vote for. A pen or pencil can be used and the entire area of the square does not have to be filled in for the machine to register the vote.

If a voter makes a mistake, he or she can ask an election official for a new ballot and the old one will be spoiled.

With the digital scan technology, the system reads the ballot, tabulates the results and preserves a digital image of the ballot. Multiple voters will be able to mark ballots at one time, reducing lines at the polls.

The machines' capabilities include functionality to reject overvoted, undervoted and blank ballots thereby providing second chance voting at the precinct.

Logan County is one of only seven counties to begin using the new machines for the upcoming election. The other counties that have upgraded include Boyle, Carlisle, Christian, Daviess, Garrard, and Hardin.

Logan County Clerk Scottie Harper said the county purchased one machine for each precinct, along with a pair of spares.

The older models will still be available at all voting precincts, but Harper said he expects most people to take advantage of the new machines because they are so easy to use.