The Macon County Board of Commissioners approved the Board of Elections’ request for new voting equipment at the monthly meeting on Sept. 13.
The Board of Elections held demonstrations of two voting systems, as required by state law, on Aug. 23 and Aug. 30. The two systems up for consideration were the ES&S DS200 and Hart InterCivic’s Verity system. Since 2005 the county has used the ES&S Unity system, which has technology that is about 40 years old and is now considered obsolete. Counties can only use voting equipment certified by the state.
The Board of Elections met on Sept. 12 and voted to recommend that the county buy the Hart system.
Board of Elections Chair Kathy Tinsley and Vice Chair Gary Dills presented the recommendation to the commissioners. Tinsley said Macon is one of five counties in the state that uses the Unity system. Before making the recommendation for Hart, Tinsley said the Board of Elections staff called other counties that use Hart and “heard nothing but good reports.”
Dills said the Hart system would save the county about $14,000 over the competitor. He said while the cost savings was important it wasn’t the only deciding factor. The equipment is state-of-art, easy to use, lighter for the poll workers and staff to carry, and the board was impressed with the professionalism of the Hart staff. He said by using Hart, they can buy the equipment, the coding and the ballots all from the same vendor.
“We just like the way the machines work, we think we can save money on it overall,” he said, adding that the recurring costs will be about $9,000-$14,000 less per year. “That’s not insignificant.”
Prior to the county buying the machines, the state will bring in Hart machines to run a simulated election in January. If that goes well, then the Board of Elections will go back to the Board of Commissioners and request that they move forward with purchasing the machines. If they are not satisfied after the simulated election, then they will have to go with the other system.
The Board of Elections would like to receive the new machines in time to train the approximate 125 poll workers. If the machines are ordered after the simulated election in January, they should arrive in February or March. The poll workers will be trained on the machines before the November 2023 municipal election. By using the machines first in the municipal election, Dills said that will give the poll workers a chance to feel more comfortable about the machines before the 2024 presidential primary and election.
Cost of new voting system
The Board of Elections has requested 24 voting machines – one for each of the 15 precincts, one each for the five administrative precincts, and spares to have as backups. Additionally, they will purchase one ADA machine for each precinct as required by law.
The estimate for the Hart InterCivic system was $197,511.20 which includes an annual fee of $9,533 for licensing and support fee. The one-year extended warranty for the system is $4,080.
The estimate for the ES&S system was $234,400.50. The company has an annual fee of $23,000 for maintenance and support.
The commissioners voted to transfer $200,000 from the fund balance to purchase the Hart InterCivic system and to pay for the time the poll workers will be training.
Tinsley said they are always looking for more poll workers. She said they work long hours during the election but get a nice paycheck for their time. She said it would be helpful if Election Day were a holiday so people could take time off from work to help at the polls. Anyone interested in being a poll worker can contact the Board of Elections at 828-349-2034.