Reply #16: Voting machine support costly - Elections boards and counties stunned by

[Wilms]

Voting machine support costly

Elections boards and counties stunned by expense; state aid for training ends after primary

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Mary Beth Lane
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The cost of service contracts for new touchscreen voting machines has left county elections officials across Ohio in sticker shock.

snip

The full coverage plan offered by Diebold Election Systems to service its touch-screen voting machines in Fairfield County, for example, would cost $90,000 a year. Partial-coverage options are available at $60,000 and $21,000 a year.

"It just about blew our minds away," said Alice Nicolia, director of the county Board of Elections.
In poorer Perry County, a Diebold service contract is out of the question.
"We just do not have the money," said Janie DePinto, elections board director. Her board is considering hiring a cheaper consultant to provide technical support at election times.

snip

Fairfield is among 47 counties that picked Diebold touch-screens. Costs for service contracts with Diebold were higher than anticipated.

The state has a five-year warranty contract with Diebold and Election Systems & Software, another company that sold voting machines to Ohio counties, for the equipment itself. Under the contract, the state is paying the companies to train and provide technical support to county elections boards through the May primary.

snip

A company spokeswoman declined to discuss the terms of service contracts that Election Systems & Software might offer its customers. When Diebold began distributing proposals to county elections officials at their conference in January, some were shocked.

So were county commissioners. "This completely blind-sided the county," said Ray Feikert, a Holmes County commissioner in northeastern Ohio. "It’s kind of a back-door expense that no one saw coming."

Diebold’s service contracts are priced depending on county size, level of support desired and number of elections annually. For Holmes and Perry counties, the proposals are $16,000, $35,000 or $50,000 annually. Like Perry County, Holmes County might search for a cheaper option, Feikert said.

snip

Diebold’s full coverage would cost $110,000 annually in Montgomery County. Harsman’s board is considering buying partial coverage and using a county information-technology worker for extra technical support.

snip

"The irony is that the small counties will have a bigger need for these contracts, but they won’t have the money to pay for them," Harsman said. "Elections boards are going to county commissioners, and commissioners are kicking and screaming. It’s not a pretty situation at all. But when the dust settles, a high percentage of counties are going to need this, and county commissioners are going to have to find the funding."

snip

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/03/05/20060305-C1-00.html


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x415738