The Starke County Council members were notified Monday night that the county’s Microvote machines may need an operating system update.
Steve Shamo from Microvote said the upgrade is not mandatory, but he urged the county to consider the update prior to the 2020 Presidential Election.
“The processors you have in your voting machines now are not attainable anymore,” explained Shamo. “We developed a new processor for the voting machines. What we’re doing hardware-wise is we’re replacing the motherboard, the processor, the processing board, and the screen. The screen will now be black with white lettering on it or deep blue with white lettering on it. Basically, everything but the rubber buttons and the case gets replaced. Essentially, the price tag is $1,427 per machine. Within that, the central system is incorporated.”
He did note that the county’s system is quite secure.
If an update occurs, it would take about four weeks to complete.
The council members did not take action on the request. They thought maybe the total update price of $60,000 could be budgeted for 2019. The payment could be made in two installments. The council members may discuss it in a budget work session later this year.
