Final decision made: New voting machines for this year’s election

The county’s election board and commissioners decided to go with one single vendor for all of this year’s equipment and services — and it’s not Election Systems and Software, despite one final plea from the company to stick with them.

Five of the six decision-makers voted to change motion and rent 250 voting machines from MicroVote, the same Indianapolis-based company that sold the county KNOWiNK e-pollbooks for this year’s elections.

The recommendation came from County Clerk Trena McLaughlin.

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Election Board member Cindy Rapp voted no to that recommendation. She has said repeatedly she wanted to stick with ES and S for this year’s elections due to the limited time left to learn an entirely new system.

MicroVote will now run the entire election this year, and will have to be ready to train pollworkers on the new equipment in about four weeks. Voters will also be using new machines that they’ve never used before.

It was an entirely new proposal, one that hadn’t been considered before Wednesday’s special joint meeting of the Johnson County Election Board and Board of Commissioners. Initially, MicroVote was only being considered for e-pollbooks, but just this week came forward with an additional offer.

Depending on how many voting machines are needed for this year’s elections, MicroVote will charge the county an estimated $86,750 to rent equipment, software and services for the May and November elections. The county had been considering a proposal from RBM Consulting for $232,000.

ES and S would have run this year’s elections for even less, if not for free, said Jeremy Burton, Indiana’s sales representative for the company.

“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Burton said.

He said the company is vibrant and growing, and is the best election company in the Midwest.

“We’ve apologized for the mistake with the e-pollbooks and you’ve moved on, you’ve thrown us out of that, as you should’ve,” Burton said. “But don’t throw us out of the voting machines thing too, because we’re serving you well.”

All three election board members had different opinions about what to do. Rapp remained inclined to stick with ES and S. Phil Barrow wanted to stick with the board’s original recommendation to go with RBM for voting machines and services. But County Clerk Trena McLaughlin motioned for the board to change its recommendation and go with MicroVote for everything.

“I understand what Cindy is saying. Our pollworkers are familiar with what we are currently using. But if we stay with ES and S, I feel like we are probably going to be crucified,” McLaughlin said.

She urged public comment before she reached that decision.

“This voting system is for the whole county. This Election Board, yes we make that decision, but they’re the voters,” she said, pointing to the audience.

McLaughlin said both Johnson County mayors expressed to her their desire for the county to switch vendors. Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett spoke up.

“I didn’t come today with intentions of speaking. However, I did make a comment and I’m going to stick to that comment,” Barnett said.

“I am on the ballot this time, just like all of the other people running in this municipal (election), and it’s very important to us and it’s very important to the citizens of Franklin and Greenwood and everyone else involved that it runs properly.”

McLaughlin’s recommendation was approved on a vote of 2-1. The commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the Election Board’s final recommendation, and to expedite legal review and move forward with a special purchase.

“We just want the best deal for the voters and the taxpayers,” commissioner Ron West said.

MicroVote’s voting machines are similar to what the county has been using and should be easy to learn. The process is about the same, McLaughlin said.

In the coming year, both boards will be tasked with selecting a vendor or vendors for future elections, a big-ticket purchase that will likely top $1 million.

“Us allowing a latecomer to come into this, if nothing else, what it did was enlighten our future in what’s out there and what we can do and that we do have some other options,” commissioner Brian Baird said.