The secretary of state's office has extended its deadline for companies to submit proposals for new voting equipment for Arkansas' 75 counties from Monday until May 12 and changed its specifications for the voting equipment in its request for proposals.
Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin's office notified companies about the changes Thursday, after officials for at least two companies said certain requirements in the request for proposal issued on April 15 favored Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software -- a charge that both Martin's office and ES&S disputed.
The secretary of state's office is considering replacing the voting equipment in 75 Arkansas counties "with a sole-source integrated voting system allowing for automation and full integration between polling place equipment and voter registration system(s)," according to a copy of the request for proposal released by Martin's office.
These pieces of equipment would allow voters to cast paper ballots or mark their votes on electronic screens.
"If the project succeeds, the vendor shall be responsible for complete replacement, installation, training, testing and maintenance, including bridge maintenance for existing systems, no later than March 1, 2016," the request for proposal states. The maximum price tag for the project would be $30 million, according to Martin's office.
Extending the deadline for companies to submit proposals to the secretary of state's office "should provide each vendor adequate time to complete their presentations for the RFP [request for proposals]," the secretary of state's office said in an email dated Thursday to election equipment vendors.
But Steven Sockwell, Austin, Texas-based Hart InterCivic's vice president of marketing, called the extension of the deadline a "nonevent."
"Any vendor planning to respond would have been working toward the original deadline," he said Friday.
The secretary of state is changing the request for proposal's specifications to simply require "voting system tabulation equipment which contains a battery which recharges automatically when power is restored to the system."
The change in the request for proposals eliminated a provision that stated that "a system in which the battery requires removing and charging on a separate charging device will not be considered as qualifying under this requirement."
Asked whether the change was made in response to complaints from some vendors, Martin spokesman Jason Cline said Friday, "If you take a look at the whole amendment, our plan was to be inclusive of as many vendors as possible.
"This change ensured we would be able to evaluate bids based on all of the criteria rather than one aspect of the whole RFP," Cline said.
Last week, state Board of Election Commissioner Stuart Soffer of Pine Bluff asked an official from California-based Unisyn Voting Solutions whether its "equivalent of a rechargeable battery" would meet the secretary of state's request for proposal for voting equipment.
But Board Chairman A.J. Kelly, who works for Martin, told Soffer at that time that "if the secretary of state considers it meets state law but it doesn't meet the secretary's requirements, then that's an issue that the vendor may be able to address after the fact."
Cline explained Friday, "We aren't subject to state procurement requirements as a constitutional office, so most of this process is at our discretion, which is where that authority comes from."
Unisyn Voting Solutions has employed the assistance of the lobbying firm of Mullenix & Associates of Hot Springs, while an ES&S spokesman said this week that it has retained Legacy Consulting -- whose senior partner Doug Matayo is Martin's former chief deputy secretary of state -- for "consulting purposes related to advising ESS on strategic growth and planning."
Martin said this week that Matayo hasn't contacted his staff about its plans to purchase new voting equipment.
The state Board of Election Commissioners determined Wednesday that certain voting equipment for Unisyn Voting Solutions and ES&S meets the requirements of state law to make the equipment eligible to be purchased by Martin.
The board had been scheduled to review voting equipment Tuesday from both Hart Inter-Civic and Toronto-based Dominion Voting Systems to determine whether the equipment meets the requirements under the state law to make them eligible to be purchased by Martin.
But board officials said Friday that Dominion Voting Systems, without providing an explanation, has withdrawn. A spokesman for Dominion Voting Systems could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Charlie Daniels, a Bryant Democrat, purchased voting equipment through Election Systems & Software for about $15 million in 2005 when he was secretary of state and also gave the company a $4.9 million contract to provide the state's voter registration system.
Then-Martin spokesman Laura Labay said last week that Martin's office re-signed a contract with Election Systems & Software for the voter registration system a few years ago.
Labay said Friday that she has resigned from her job as a spokesman for Martin's office.
She said she didn't have an explanation for her resignation and that she wasn't asked by Martin's office to tender her resignation.
Asked why Labay resigned from her post, Cline replied Friday afternoon that "we don't comment on personnel issues."
Metro on 05/02/2015