Commissioners choose voting machines
By MARLA PISCIOTTA Mineral Daily News-Tribune     12 October 2005

The Mineral County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the No-Cost Package from the Secretary of State's office, which will provide the county with equipment to comply with the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA). The good news it's not costing the county a dime.

The package will consist of the following:

? One ES&S Ivotronic ADA-equipped (Audio Ballot Feature) direct recording electronic (DRE) voting device with the voter verified paper trail printer and a 5-year warranty and maintenance program for each precinct in the county.

? One high speed ES&S Model 650 Central Court Optical Scanner with a 5-year warranty and maintenance program for use in the courthouse.

? One computer with election management and reporting software to merge optical scan results with touch-screen counts, for use in the courthouse.

? One statewide election cycle worth of programming costs for both the Ivontronic DRE and Optical Scanner.

? One statewide election cycle worth of Optical Scan Ballots

? Fund for one ballot stand per 250 voters.

? Voter training and education limited to the use of optical scan ballots and accessible touch-screen voting systems. However, the county will be responsible for on-going voter training and education.

? Free upgrades from ES&S as mandated by HAVA or the Federal Election Assistance Commission for a period of 5 years.

?Anything else would cost (Mineral County) thousands of dollars,? said Lauren Ellifritz, Deputy Clerk, in charge of voting.

County Clerk Isaac ?Sonny? Alt said the county would be receiving 37 machines. ?Thirty five for the precincts, one for early voting and one machine for a spare.?

Commissioner LaRue said the county would most likely have to purchase a storage building to house the equipment.