Sunday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2008.
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The State has awarded Lee County $168,547 to be used for acquiring new voting machines, one for each of the thirteen voting precincts and for education of county officials and the public on the use of these machines.
The need for the equipment is in compliance with the requirements of HAVA, especially as these relate to voters with handicaps. The federal requirement of HAVA is that each Precinct must have at least one electronic voting machine by January 2006.
In his meeting with the Commissioners, Williams covered the procurement process for counties in the State, and said that whether or not to provide a ‘paper trail’ is a decision to be made by the County. If Lee County decides to include a requirement for this in their purchase of equipment, Secretary Williams said that any extra cost for this will be covered by the State.
One question raised was, “What happens if the unit at a Precinct fails or ‘goes down’?” The Secretary committed to getting back with the Court with the official answer and process to provide for this possibility.
A second question concerned having available extra or spare units to replace a unit that fails during an election. Secretary Williams said that any extra or ‘spare’ units would need to be paid for out of County funds, not State funds.
County Clerk Carol Dismukes has already met with two of the four State approved vendors. On Monday, February 28, the Commissioners were given a demonstration by another vendor, Hart Intercivic, of a machine known as the eSlate Elections System.
The County is planning to hold Public Input meetings on the ease of use and other factors relating to these machines before a final decision is made as to the specific choice for the County.