Clark: Voting-machine price should be low despite smaller order

Counties' decision not to buy machines hiked per-unit cost $387, secretary of state says

By John Fuquay    The Clarion Ledger     23 August 2005

A touch screen makes choosing easy for voters using the new electronic voting machines that most Mississippi counties will be using soon. Five counties decided not to buy the machines.

 
Secretary of State Eric Clark said Monday he believes the state will get a vendor's lowest price for more than 5,100 touch-screen voting machines despite falling short by more than 1,000 machines after last week's deadline.

He said some of the 76 counties participating in the statewide purchase have indicated they will buy additional machines.

"The more machines we buy, the lower the price per machine," he told The Clarion-Ledger editorial board. "Numerous counties have told us they intend to buy more."

Most counties accepted the machines offered by the state from a $15-million budget. The budget provides the machines at the rate of one for every 190 voters.

Counties would have to buy additional machines with local funds but could receive the state contract rate if they machines from Diebold, the same company the state plans to use. Counties have until Dec. 15 to buy at the state rate.

Counties had until Friday to declare their participation in a statewide purchase of modern voting machines that meet federal Help America Vote Act guidelines for uniformity and handicap accessibility. States must comply with the act by Jan. 1. Six of the state's 82 counties are not participating.

Five counties ? DeSoto, Hinds, Jackson, Lee and Rankin ? chose not to purchase the machines and would have accounted for 1,152 units. Yalobusha County also opted out and would have required 26 machines.

The state receives a per-unit discount for buying more machines. The cost of 5,164 machines for all counties would have been $2,904 each. As it stands, the state contract is "just short of 4,000 machines," Clark said. At that level, the per unit price is $3,291 each. The difference is $387 more per machine.

Clark said machines in Hinds and Rankin counties meet federal guidelines. He said those in DeSoto and Jackson counties meet some standards. Machines in Lee and Yalobusha counties must be upgraded by Jan. 1 to meet federal standards.

Lee County Board of Supervisors president Charles Duke said he was the only supervisor in his county to support the statewide purchase plan.

"I can't for the life of me see why we turned down 126 free machines," he said. "It was just like a grant to me."

Efforts to reach other Lee County supervisors were unsuccessful.

DeSoto County uses one touch-screen machine at each of its 35 precincts for disabled voters, said Paul Beale, chairman of the Desoto County Election Commission. All other voters mark ballots that are scanned.

Clark's office offered the county 173 voting machines, which was not enough for one of the fastest-growing areas of the state.

The county would have to buy almost 30 machines a year at $90,000 to $150,000 to keep up with growth, Beale said. There are about 75,000 registered voters in DeSoto County.