Plans for the 2020 elections are moving ahead in Pulaski County. The Pulaski County Justice Center in Winamac will once again serve as the main early voting site for the primary and general elections, following the approval of the county commissioners Monday.
The commissioners also agreed to let the election board continue using DeGroot Technology as its Election Day IT contractor. “I have spoken with them,” Clerk JoLynn Behny explained. “I have money in my election budget to cover that.” Behny previously told the election board that the cost will remain at $2,500 per election.
She told the commissioners Monday that Sheriff Jeff Richwine has agreed to step up security for this year’s election days.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office is taking steps to boost election cyber security. Behny said the county has received 20 voting machine printers at no cost, ahead of the upcoming “voter verifiable paper audit trail” requirement. “We have 30 voting machines,” she said. “They’re $1,500 apiece, these printers. . . . So we’ve gotten started. We’re not going to have to purchase nearly as many as we want.”
The clerk also said the state is looking at requiring counties to use cyber protection from FireEye. While that could prove beneficial for Pulaski County, Behny warned that it would impact everyone using the county’s network. “So it would impact 911,” she said. “It would impact EMA and the Sheriff’s Department and the auditor and all the courthouse offices.”
The bigger concern statewide is that FireEye wouldn’t be compatible with the security software already in place in larger counties.
