County Commissioners could hear an update Monday on what’s been called a “hostage” situation with the state’s voting machine company.
County Attorney Scott Warren is in negotiations with ES&S, a company that makes voting machines used statewide in North Carolina. The company is the only provider of voting machines in the state.
Although Wake County voters use paper ballots, the county has 248 voting machines:
-M100 optical scan machines (the ones into which you put your ballot)
-Automark machines for those with disabilities
-Three high-speed ballot counting machines
Wake County Board of Elections Director Cherie Poucher wants to certify two of her own technicians to inspect, fix and maintain the county’s 248 voting machines each year.
ES&S offered to certify two technicians in a training program in Omaha, Kan. The cost is $15,000 each, an extra $5,000 annually for recertification and 60 percent of the county’s $174,000 annual contract.
“That 60 percent of a contract when we did the work was unreasonable,” Poucher said. “But we knew we still had to work with ES&S because you have to have ES&S parts. There were certain things that we knew we still needed.”
“And evidently our commissioners really didn’t like that,” she said. “They felt they were being held hostage and that ES&S was a monopoly.”
All North Carolina counties purchased new voting equipment that year to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). ES&S has maintained the machines since they were purchased in 2006.
At that time, ES&S offered one year of free maintenance. After that, the state paid the annual cost using HAVA funds. That money is now frozen.
Voting machines are stacked and stored in the Elections warehouse when not in use.
Poucher said her technicians already do most of the work, testing and certifying machines before each election.
“If we have four elections in a year, we do diagnostics, cleaning, complete testing. Our logic and accuracy testing is … I think we do more than is required by the state board,” she said. “And then that machine is certified by my technician.”
ES&S visits once a year, working for only 80 hours. Poucher said ES&S’ annual visit basically amounts to a cleaning at a cost of nearly $174,000 per year.
Poucher, Warren, and members of ES&S and its co-company Print Elect met last week to discuss the terms. Poucher said they are looking for certification for her technicians and continued maintenance at a lower percentage. She did not say how much they suggested.
Warrens said Friday he heard from ES&S officials, who reported they were “very close to sending us two proposals, both of which I believe will save the county money.”
Some counties need to use ES&S technicians for helping with programming and coding the machines, Poucher said, especially those with only one or two staff members. But Wake County needs a different solution, she said.
“We’re looking for what is best for the taxpayers of Wake County and the voters of Wake County,” she said.
The County Commission meets at 2 p.m. Monday.
