The Starke County Election Board is ready to take its proposal for voting machine upgrades to the county council and commissioners. Vendor MicroVote wants to bring the county’s 46 machines up to the latest federal standards, in time for the 2020 presidential election. Board members decided Wednesday to discuss the upgrades with the county council and commissioners during their March 19 meetings.
Clerk Vicki Cooley said she wants to make those arrangements before discussions on the 2019 budget begin. “We’re looking at a total cost, just to upgrade our machines, $66,086,” she explained. “Probably, we need to work on this first, then, if we want to go before the board for e-poll books, at a later date.”
However, election board member Peg Brettin pointed out that proposed changes in state law could impact the election board’s future equipment needs. Senate Bill 250 would remove most restrictions on absentee voting, while House Bill 1347 would switch Indiana to a vote-by-mail system. “The reason why I bring that up,” Brettin said, “is because if we’re looking at e-poll books and voting and that, down the road, do we cross that path?”
Also during Wednesday’s meeting, the Starke County Election Board scheduled training for the absentee and traveling boards, as well as their proxies, for Thursday, March 15 at 9:00 a.m. in the election room in the Starke County Courthouse. The public test of the voting machines will be held Tuesday, April 3 at 2:00 p.m. in the courthouse’s second-floor meeting room.
