The Garland County Election Commission was torn Friday between allocating a state grant to reduce voter lines for the November election and planning for the future.
The commission had intended to use the $14,430 grant from the secretary of state's office to purchase more iVotronic electronic voting machines, hoping it could alleviate the long lines that dissuaded some voters from casting a ballot during the May 20 preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial election.
Their imminent phasing out gave the commission pause Friday, as it was uncertain if they could be used after the Nov. 4 election. The state's contract with iVotronic vendor ES&S expires at the end of next June, according to the secretary of state's office.
The commission considered using the money to buy ES&S' next generation ExpressVote, which the U.S. Election Assistance Commission certified last month. It's billed as a paper voting machine with touch-screen technology, eliminating the need to print ballots for an indeterminate number of voters while simplifying machine programming.
The ExpressVote features an electronic check-in, generating a paper slip with a bar code that assigns the corresponding ballot style. The slip is fed back into the machine, cuing up a ballot on the touch screen. Another slip is printed confirming the voter's selections and put into a scanner that records the results.
County Clerk Sarah Smith told the commission in July that she saw it demonstrated at a county clerk conference, estimating its costs between $2,000 to $3,000, with an additional $6,000, to $7,000 for the scanner.
Commission Chairwoman Ginna Watson said she's inquired with ES&S about reserving ExpressVotes. She expects the state to enter into a contract to buy machines for all 75 counties, and she wants to get the county on the waiting list for additional units.
"There's a possibility we could have to wait until they build more," she said. "I want to get on the reservation list for the next ones that are available.
The commission agreed Friday that the grant wouldn't purchase enough Ivotronics to make a material difference on election day. It has 45 electronic machines after using a credit balance to purchase an additional unit last month.
Voting times could be reduced more significantly with extra paper ballot scanning machines, commissioners said. Paper ballots weren't available for the May primary but will be used on election day. Early voting will be limited to the electronic machines.
Memory cards that record results from the M-100 scanners that are then uploaded to the secretary of state's office have a 40-ballot style capacity. Some of the county's 24 polling places serve more precincts than the memory cards can read, requiring multiple M-100s at those locations.
More scanners could improve voter flow, but, like the iVotronics, their viability is uncertain beyond the November election. The commission said the county has 43 functioning M-100s.
"We're right back to where we were (with the iVotronics)," Watson said. "We could use that money for one election and throw everything we've bought away. And I don't want to do that with tax money. I really don't believe our voters want us to buy something we can only use once."
The grant's generic language gives the commission flexibility to delay its decision. Watson said it doesn't specify what it can be used for, stating only that election equipment be purchased with it. The commission initially considered using it to buy terminals that electronically maintain registration records before its focus shifted to additional iVotronics.
Local on 08/23/2014