The Macon County Board of Elections will hold two demonstrations of potential new voting machines later this month.
During a presentation at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 9, Board of Elections Supervisor Melanie Thibault said the department has talked about getting new equipment for a few years and had put it off to help save the county some money. “Right now, my board is pretty adamant about getting this going and getting new equipment,” she said.
She said the current equipment is about 20 years old and that Macon is one of five counties that does not have updated equipment. The state certified several new voting systems in 2019.
Thibault said it’s not a simple matter of just buying new equipment and putting it in the precincts. The state allows counties to use only equipment that has already been certified and there is a process the county must follow for selecting and buying new voting equipment.
There are five voting systems certified for use in North Carolina: ES&S EVS 5.2.4.0, Hart InterCivic Verity Voting 2.2, ES&S Unity 3.4.1.1, ES&S Unity 3.0.1.1 and Clear Ballot Clear Vote 1.4. No counties in the state use Clear Ballot.
Demonstration dates
A demonstration with the ES&S system will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23 and the Hart system demonstration will be on Tuesday, Aug. 30. Both demonstrations will begin at 6 p.m. at the Robert C. Carpenter Building. Thibault said the DS200 system by ES&S is the most popular. The county currently uses the ES&S Unity 5.9.1.0 system. The company has an office in Asheville, and Thibault said they are quick to respond when there is a question. Hart is based in Texas.
“I would encourage everyone in Macon County to come out and witness the demonstrations and ask any questions they may have to the vendors before any decision is made to purchase new voting equipment since county funds will be used to make this purchase. Our current equipment is almost 20 years old. The voters deserve the most updated equipment,” Thibault said.
Timeline for selecting
Thibault said following the demonstrations, the Board of Elections will make a recommendation on a new system in September. She said they plan to test the equipment in the November 2023 municipal election.
“I don’t want to roll out new equipment in a presidential year and have to train over 85 precinct officials and staff.”
By testing it in 2023, she said that would give them more time to get everyone trained before the presidential election in 2024.
Cost
Replacing the voting system will cost about $235,000 for 24 machines plus a yearly maintenance contract of $20,000. There are 15 precincts in the county plus five administrative precincts. The five administrative precincts are one-stop voting Franklin, one-stop voting Highlands, absentee, provisionals and transfers.
Thibault said she added extra machines to the request so there would be backups available in case a machine stops working on election day. The county currently has 22 machines and two went down during the primary held in May. Thibault said the county is also required to have an ADA compliant machine with ballot marking assistance available.
Finance Director Lori Hall said the cost of the new machines would be in the 2024 budget; they are not included in the current 2022-23 budget.
Selection process
The state requires the following process for selecting a new voting system:
• A demonstration of the recommended voting system plus at least one other system not currently used in the county. The demonstrations must be part of a public meeting with invitations sent to the Board of Commissioners, the county manager, the county attorney and the political parties. Public notice about the demonstrations must be published as with other board meetings.
• A recommendation from the county Board of Elections as to which voting system should be required.
• Testing the proposed system in at least one precinct or in a simulated election.
• Seek State Board approval to replace the current voting system.
• Make a final recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to adopt and acquire the new system.