M.C. Election Board discusses new voting machines

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at 8:56 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

MicroVote gave Marshall County Clerk Jenny Bennett a four-year warning on the county’s voting machines. The warning is that the county’s current voting machines should be replaced before the next presidential election in 2028.

Election Board member Susie Kreighbaum asked why, and the member Steve Harper said they are like computers. They have 5 small chips like you put in a camera in each machine. They were too small to put all the ballots on. To put in larger ones, they must be certified by the state. He suspects once that happens, they won’t certify the smaller ones.

Bennett said the machines are about 20 years old and they had one hard drive update several years ago. She commented that the new machines have easier to read screens that are in color.

Bennett received a quote of $263,200 and put it in her budget for 2025. She said in 2025 there are no elections so the budget is smaller, and she felt it would be easier to obtain the funds to purchase the new machines. Bennett said MicroVote is willing to split the cost over two budget years. The machines cost $2,800 each and the county has 94 machines.

Harper said most of the current machines were purchased by the state and with the Help America Vote organization. The county had a much smaller share of the funds.

MicroVote will attend the budget meeting with Bennett to explain to the council the need for new voting machines.