Voting Machine Veto Stands; County to Re-Bid Election Items

For the second time, send out bids for 260 optical scan voting machines.

The council during its Monday meeting to override on buying 260 voting machines for $1.2 million. So, the council opted to re-bid the items.

Council members Terry Hollander, Ward 5, and Paul Wynn, Ward 4, were absent.

Director Rich Chrismer said the bid results will be the same.

“There are no other companies. Is that a shame that only one company can bid in the state of Missouri? Sure it is.”

Chrismer said only one vendor is certified under 2005 standards by both federal and state government to sell the voting machines, and that’s Henry Adkins & Son. The machines are manufactured by Unisyn and also are state and federally certified.

“You could not buy new voting equipment unless it’s certified according to the 2005 standards (according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission),” Chrismer said.

Ehlmann said he vetoed spending $1.2 million on new voting machines because of the rising cost of elections ever since the federal government began regulating the process. He said federal regulations created an environment one company has a monopoly on election machines.

There was some confusion Monday regarding whether the county could purchase voting machines if the bid specifications are written to accept machines certified under 2002 standards. Chrismer wrote bid specifications to meet 2005 certification standards.

On Tuesday, Ryan Hobart, a spokesman for the Missouri Secretary of State’s office, emailed Patch Tuesday. There are “multiple types of voting systems approved for use in Missouri. Also, there are multiple vendors who sell voting equipment.”

Hobart clarified by phone that St. Charles County can purchase multiple types of machines from multiple vendors for election use.

However, Chrismer said he could purchase the same type of equipment currently in use that is certified under 2002 standards as replacements for his current equipment. However, the machines he currently uses are no longer manufactured--although older machines are available for sale--and replacement parts are refurbished.

To purchase newer, upgraded equipment, the vendor and and the machines must meet 2005 standards, and that leaves only Adkins & Son in Missouri, Chrismer said.

“That’s why 25 counties bought these machines and all 25 received only one bid,” he said.

Federal regulations = rising costs

Ehlmann told the council that in 2000, the county spent $4.92 per county resident on elections each year. After the “hanging chad” fiasco in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, federal government began certifying the machines.

As a result, the cost to administer elections will rise more than 150 percent to $12.32 per county resident if the county spends $1.2 million on new voting machines, Ehlmann said Monday.

Chrismer disputes those figures because he saved money over six years to pay for the machines. He said the $1.2 million would have been counted twice. He also said the chart Ehlmann used seemed off because election expenditures should rise dramatically in even-numbered years because there are more highly contested races.

Ehlmann said that only way to compare prices for the machines is to see what other counties are paying, and those counties are buying from the same vendor that has a monopoly in Missouri.

“This is what happens when the federal government gets involved and tries to help,” he said.