CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — New technology is making it easier to cast your vote in Champaign County.

Each voting site will have one “Express Vote” machine. These will replace older ones, that County Clerk Aaron Ammons called “the 100-pound pencil,” that often broke down during elections.

Each machine cost about 33-hundred dollars. The money to buy them came from the CARES Act and a grant.

Clerk Ammons said all voters are welcome to use them. “It’s for regular voters who just come in and they’re used to circling in the bubbles, or even for our differently abled. We had a vision-impaired person come in today to use it. He loved it.” Testimony from that voter was posted on the County Clerk Facebook page.

The machines will be used approximately twice a year, for every election period, and they should last between 15 and 20 years, according to Clerk Ammons.