Midland County receives grant to meet election law
Stephanie Miller
Midland Reporter Telegram
03/08/2005
Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams announced Monday the county will receive $816,000 to help comply with federal Help America Vote Act.

By Stephanie A. Miller

Staff Writer

During his visit to Midland Monday, Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams announced the county will receive $816,000 to fulfill requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act.

The news was welcomed by the county, which previously was told it would receive $162,000 to use toward the unfunded mandate.

"I was extremely pleased with the dollar amount they showed us today," Midland County Elections Administrator Ruth Sloan said. "It's outstanding."

Williams stopped by Midland, a destination of his "HAVA Listening Tour" where he visited counties and heard officals' HAVA-related concerns and ideas.

Passed in 2002, HAVA is a federal law that requires all voting precincts to have a minimum of one electronic voting machine by January 2006.

To meet this requirement, Midland County would need to purchase a minimum of 39 such machines to provide each precinct with one machine.

These machines will allow visually- and language-impaired people to vote privately, county officials said. Some voting machines the county is considering cost about $5,000 each, county elections officials said.

The county can use the funding in any way related to implementing the HAVA requirements, Williams said. Williams added that he is optimistic about the results.

"I feel like we will be a model in leading the nation," he said. "Texas leads the way in everything, so why shouldn't we in HAVA?"

Ninety-five percent of the money will come from the federal government. The state will contribute the remaining 5 percent.

"We need to take care of our counties and we need to take care of our voters," Williams said. "When you look at Texas, Texas is a family and we need to take care of our family."

The amount of money distributed to each county is based on its voting age population.

The funding is set up similar to a drawing account. The county will send its invoices to the Williams' office, which will pay the vendor. All of this is to take place in about a 30-day time frame, Williams said.

The funding should be available for the county in about 30 days, officials said.

County officials said the money will be enough to fund all machines needed to fulfill its HAVA requirement, plus cover costs for training.

"We will need to have more machines to handle the voters so that there's not a block-long line at some precinct, said Midland County Judge Bill Morrow. "It will give us a great jump start in what we need to do."

Midland County Republican Chairman Sue Brannon said she was thrilled about the news.

"Midland County has always been a leader and will continue to be a leader in the voting process and this will really help Midland County," Brannon said.

As part of his HAVA tour, which kicked off three weeks ago in Giddings, Williams has visited about 20 counties, including Dallas, Tarrant, Wise, Hunt, Ellis and Collin.

Earlier Monday, Williams stopped by Ector County, which will receive $855,000 to replace its punch card voting system.

From the tour, two common concerns among the counties surfaced, Williams said.

Some vendors ed by counties are not sure if they meet the federal standards. In a model contract, Williams will advise the vendors are to guarantee to the counties that the product will meet the required standards.

Cash flow was a second concern the model contract will also address. It will state that vendors will not expect payment until the state pays the county first, Williams said. The model contract will be sent to counties in about two weeks.

Williams' HAVA tour will take a brief hiatus for two weeks before it resumes in the Houston area.