Plans are for a new system to be purchased and in use by the May 2019 primary, said Dave Fisher, elections board chairman.
“We need to look at this sooner rather than later,” he said during a board discussion Aug. 28.
The board previously saw equipment demonstrations by vendors and hosted a vendor fair for locals and other election boards to see options from the touch-screen machines to optical scan paper systems and hybrid systems.
The county now uses touch-screen voting machines purchased in 2005 with Help America Vote Act dollars.
The systems available include:
- Optical scan, which is a paper-based system in which a voter marks the vote on a paper ballot. The ballot is inserted into a scanner that records the vote. The system now is used by some counties for absentee voting.
- DRE system, or direct recording electronic touch-screen machines. The voter makes the selection on the screen. The vote is recorded electronically on a SIM card in the machine which then is counted with other ballots cast.
- Hybrid systems use a touch screen to mark the ballot, which is printed onto paper that then is scanned to record the vote.
Miami County is in line to receive $1,096,490 through the state for a new system. The money would be paid as a reimbursement following purchase, said Bev Kendall, elections director.
Among board topics was whether it could buy what is needed with that money, or if more would need to be requested from the commissioners.
The four board members had various opinions on the options and quotes received from ES&S and Clear Ballot Group. Prices ranged from $507,000 to $1.9 million.
Board member Ryan King said updated quotes based on the number of machines the county would buy are needed.
Board member Audrey Gillespie said some form of paper ballot is needed.
“People want to be able to see it in their hand, see where they marked on that paper,” she said.
Fisher said he, too, was for paper ballots.
King said returning to a paper system would be a step backward for the county. Regardless the system used for marking ballots, “at the end of the day, the tabulation is still electronic,” King said.
Board member Rob Long said the commissioners’ input is vital, particularly on what the county could afford beyond the state allocation.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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