BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's election commissioners favor staying with the company that now provides electronic voting machines to the state, saying it appears best suited to meet the county's needs.
Arkansas is looking at replacing voting machines and systems now in use as they approach the end of their 10-year life span. The state uses voting machines and equipment from Election Systems & Software, one of three companies vying for Arkansas' business. A measure to appropriate $30 million for new voting equipment is pending in the state Legislature. Counties could receive new equipment this summer if funding is approved, said Kim Dennison, the county's election coordinator.
The commissioners have attended demonstrations of new voting systems by ES&S and by Unisyn Voting Solutions. A presentation by Hart Intercivic, the third company, is set for 9 a.m. today at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Russ Anzalone, commission chairman, reviewed the information presented by the first two companies and asked the commission and election staff for input. ES&S unanimously was favored as the vendor that should receive Benton County's recommendation. The decision on which system to use will be made by the secretary of state's office along with the state Board of Election Commissions.
"They know how we operate in Arkansas," commissioner Mike Sevak said, referring to ES&S.
Dennison provided the commission with a spreadsheet that showed expected costs from ES&S and Unisyn for the new equipment Benton County needs. The cost of the ES&S voting machines, ballot counting machines and other equipment came to about $1.8 million. The cost of the Unisyn voting machines and equipment would be about $1.1 million.
The commission discussed the need to have the decision made quickly and the new system in place so election staff and poll workers can be trained in advance of the 2016 presidential election. The current voting machines and systems could be used in 2016 if necessary, Dennison said. The commission agreed to work toward having a report for the Benton County Quorum Court's Committee of the Whole at its April 14 meeting.
The commission also discussed other pending legislation, including a proposal to reduce the time early voting is available from two weeks to one week. In the most recent election cycle, 45 percent of the county's votes were cast during the early voting period, Anzalone said. Anzalone has sent an email to legislators cautioning them that reducing the early voting period will cause greater delays for voters on election day.
"I know it sounds good from a money standpoint for the state, but it's got to be about the voters," he said,
NW News on 03/11/2015