County looking to replace vote machines in time for presidential election in 2024

MUNCIE, Ind. − Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler told County Council members last Tuesday that he plans to include new voting machines for the county in his department's 2024 budget.

Spangler said the current machines are 20 years old and were bought by former Clerk Karen Wenger.

"We've got just about all the good we can get out of those machines," the clerk told the council.

Spangler said in each of the past two elections, a voting machine has come up with a fatal error. Both were able to be fixed and the votes totaled, but the clerk said it was time for new equipment.

Steve Shamo, who works as a General Manager at MicroVote General Corp. — the county's vote machine supplier based in Indianapolis — told council members that the last time the county received new vote machines the state paid for them in an effort to get counties to move away from punch card systems. The MicroVote purchase at that time cost $680,000. The county upgraded the system in about 2016.

Shamo recommended machines with new voting panels, the part of the apparatus that has the screen and voting device. The new panels offer an upgraded screen presentation that would replace faded lettering with more vivid color-activated screens.

The state is paying for the voting booths and for voter security measures called VVPAT, the voter verifiable paper audit trail, which is required by the state government as a vote security measure.

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The county would have to pay for the vote panels, Shamo said.

The county currently has 239 voting machines, and a one-to-one replacement would cost about $669,000, Shamo said. Usually, the most panels that have been put out is 223, with some held back to add machines in an area with an expected large turnout on Election Day.

He said that the trend of early voting is changing when and where the machines are deployed, with the expectation that as much as 50 percent of the votes being cast ahead of Election Day in the future. That trend will allow for more votes to be cast on a particular machine.

Election Day voters have time to cast as many as 240 to 280 votes on a machine over the 12 hours polls are open. With advance voting, a given machine could record 1,500 to 4,500 votes. "So the machine itself just gives you a better bang for your buck," Shamo said.

The company would work with Spangler to drive down the number of panels needed to avoid the county "having a lot of machines just sitting around," he said.

He also said that MicroVote can deliver all the machines for use in the presidential elelction in 2024 and spread payment of the equipment across two years without charging interest.

Shamo said the new machines are relatively heavier, at about 50 pounds a piece, which can create transportation issues for his company. Once vote centers are adopted, it will make delivery easier with fewer polling places. But he added that the new machines are much easier to set up for poll workers.

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Spangler told council members he would place the full amount for the purchase of all the panels in the clerk's 2024 budget and, if the council chooses to adjust that to spread the payment across two years, they can do that during budget hearings.

Shamo said that if the county budget is approved in September,it is possible the panels would be in place in time for the primary next May and it would definitely be ready for the general election in 2024.

Spangler said that MicroVote not only sells the machines but assists the county during the election, providing training, helping with set up and staying with election officials throughout the process.

"We're not just buying a machine, we're buying a company," he said.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Spangler plans to replace 239 vote machines in time for 2024 election