Benton County will seek funds for vote devices

State revenue shortfall makes aid unlikely, lawmaker warns

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County will try to obtain state assistance to buy new voting equipment, but officials say the county also needs to plan to pay the full cost alone if necessary.

Funding request

Benton County’s Quorum Court will consider a resolution supporting the county’s request for nearly $1.2 million for new voting machines and election equipment funds at the panel’s May 25 meeting. The county would have to provide the same amount in matching money if the state approves the request.

Source: Staff report

County election officials have said the cost for new equipment is about $2.3 million. State money, if available, could cover half that cost. County Judge Barry Moehring and other county officials received a letter from the secretary of state's office Wednesday that indicated that up to $5 million may be made available from the governor's office and another $1 million from the secretary of state's office to assist counties in buying the new equipment.

"We need to get in line for that state money if there's going to be any available," said Tom Allen, a justice of the peace. "We surely could use it. We're the second-largest county in the state and you'd think we ought to be near the front of the line."

Arkansas has approved the use of new voting machines and other equipment from Election Systems & Software that will replace equipment bought from the company more than a decade ago. Several counties, including Washington County, were provided the new equipment last year in a "pilot program" while the state evaluated the new systems.

Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said Benton County needs 475 new voting machines with kiosks and 65 vote-counting machines, along with printers, software and other equipment and supplies. The county now has 468 working voting machines and needs more for the 44 vote centers and early vote locations that were open for the November general election, Dennison said. The new equipment and the older equipment are not compatible, and the new equipment can't be phased in while the county continues to use the older machines, Dennison said.

"It all works off a different operating system," Dennison said.

While the governor and secretary of state have indicated they want to make money available, state Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, has cautioned the county not to rely on that money. State revenue collections have fallen below projections, and spending that was planned may not be possible, Douglas said.

"It all depends on what the trends are these last two months of the fiscal year," Douglas said. The state's fiscal year ends in June.

"April did not look good. Corporate taxes are down, and sales taxes did not make projections. We have May and June to go to see if a miracle happens and it comes up to expectations," Douglas said.

The state already has cut as much as $70 million in spending, which Douglas said included more than $5 million earmarked for merit raises for state employees. Douglas is not optimistic the money for election equipment will survive a budget shortfall.

"I would say it's not very likely, but we'll keep our fingers crossed," he said.

Benton County election officials borrowed some of the new machines from Washington County to demonstrate them for justices of the peace at two recent meetings. Justice of the Peace Michelle Chiocco was impressed.

"Based on what I saw, I actually like them, and I'm a paper-ballot girl," Chiocco said.

Chiocco likes a feature of the new machines that gives voters a paper ballot they can review for themselves before they place it in the vote-counting machines. She also likes the record-keeping features of the new equipment and wants to have the state adopt a law that requires counties to verify the accuracy of the machines after every election.

"I did ask Dan Douglas to sponsor legislation so randomly selected machines are audited, just to be sure the numbers are correct," Chiocco said. "I'd like to make it a requirement."

Chiocco favors buying new machines and leans toward the idea put forward by Justice of the Peace Pat Adams to have the county pay for the equipment in a single payment to avoid the cost of financing the purchase. Allen said he understands that impulse, but prefers to use the county's reserve funds for a new courts building.

Allen also said he was impressed with the new equipment and supports the idea that the county needs to proceed with the purchase.

Metro on 05/15/2017

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