During Tuesday’s meeting of the Finance and Rules Committee of the county Legislature, Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Lindsay Burriss and Republican Commissioner Ann Nortz made the case for the purchase of 30 new voting machines for the county.
Ms. Burris said there are currently 34 voting machines that serve the county, including two different types, a standalone scanner and a ballot marking device, needed to meet the requirements set by state authorities.
With the latest upgraded version of the machine, called the ImageCast Evolution by Dominion Voting Systems, only 30 will be needed.
“The new technology is faster and more efficient, and because there is only going to be one type of machine, training election workers will be much easier, too,” Ms. Burris said.
The commissioners told the legislators present that the new machines are more user-friendly, take up less space, use less paper and are lighter to move.
The current machines are being replaced because at 11 years old, the model is already becoming obsolete and finding parts for them is becoming more difficult and expensive. Because the warranty has expired on the machines, replacing monitors, screens, printers and other parts as well as general maintenance is fully a county expense.
Ms. Nortz said the average lifespan of a voting machine is 10 years and with focused maintenance they have been able to keep the machines in decent condition, but it gets more expensive to do so every year.
The total cost of the new machines will be about $350,000, but the commissioners shared three different options to purchase the machines offered by Dominion ranging from buying them outright, which would provide a five-year warranty, to paying $50,000 every year for eight years with the warranty extended to the full eight years of the payment.
Yearly maintenance on the units after the warranties expire is about $15,000, Ms. Burriss said, and money has already been budgeted for the repair of two machines every year, which wouldn’t be necessary with the new machines.
The five legislators on the committee and additional legislators in the gallery said they preferred the option of an eight-year payment plan under full warranty for eight years.
“I think that the voters will really like these,” said Ms. Burriss. “The displays are easy to read and the vote tally is big and featured in an easy-to-see place so people know their vote registered in the system. It even 'dings' so they know their vote counted.”
Ms. Burriss said commissioners are hoping to have a purchase agreement ready for the board to review next week. The final decision will be made in the April 2 Board of Legislators meeting.
The commissioners are hopeful the machines will be approved and delivered before the June primaries of this busy election year in Lewis County.
©2019 Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
