Voting machines to be replaced

Wanting to save money in the long run and needing the equipment, county commissioners spent $220,059 on election equipment and software as part of a nearly three-hour meeting Monday.

The decision ends nearly a month of discussion on the subject, which originally began with the purchase of Pollpads, which tell workers what ballots they should give a voter based on their address. It was determined that buying the pads exclusively, which would run anywhere from $7,350 to $9,520 depending on their purchase date, wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem.

Repairs to the voting machines, which were supposed to last 10 years, had started and repairing the Pollpads wouldn’t work because of their age.

The current Pollpads were no longer being supported by tech personnel as they were past their life expectancy as well,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Keith Umphress said.

To replace all of the voting equipment was going to cost $220,059, of which there was enough to cover the cost via general fund reserves. Judge Mitchell Davenport said the county would still have the minimum three months of general operating expenses in its “rainy day” fund.

Discussion of postponing the purchase until the next fiscal year was met with resistance.

“I’m not excited about spending this much money unless it’s a gotta have thing and this is,” Umphress said. “We’re going to need to see if there are any glitches in the equipment before the November election and this will give us the opportunity to get our workers the chance to see on an off-year election.”

The court recently sent a letter to the Secretary of State’s office to begin countywide voting, which would allow residents to vote at any county polling place and not their designated one, which would potentially cut voting costs if approved by the Secretary of State.

To save potential additional costs of replacing the machines until the next budget year and provide more time in case of glitches, commissioners approved the purchase now. Davenport said after the meeting those costs could be lowered if all the machines were not needed but said having extra machines available in the case of one breaking during an election isn’t such a bad option either.

Davenport said public hearings will needed to be held on possible countywide voting before a decision from the Secretary of State’s office is handed down, hopefully sometime later this summer.

The last set of voting machines were paid for via a grant 11 years ago, which Davenport said was a one-time deal.