Members of the Marshall County Council tabled a decision to fund the request to purchase E-Poll books for the election process.
Deb VanDeMark, County Clerk told the council the Marshall County Election Board and Commissioners approved the decision to move from paper poll books to the new electronic I-Pad books. Members of the council had questions and decided to get more information before appropriating funds for the project.
Monday morning VanDeMark presented a detailed purchase quote which has the county purchasing 15 I-Pad units, 15 receipt printers, paper, the network package, installation, training, set up and delivery for a total of $32,225. The annual expense was estimated to be approximately $2,875 for maintenance and software licensing.
Councilmember Steve Harper asked about the battery life. His concern is purchasing the electronic components and having them sit on a shelf for a year before using them. His recommendation was to purchase the units needed to conduct the municipal elections as a test and them purchase the rest if the election board is happy with their operation.
Council president Matt Hassel asked what the benefits were to have E-poll books. VanDeMark said it speeds up the check-in process. Also, if a voter is in the wrong voting site the e-book will tell where they should be and with the paper book a call would have to be made to the clerk’s office to get the information. The final advantage is with the state’s required audit process. Currently the election audit process has 2 weeks to complete but new changes will require the work to be completed in 3 days. With the e-book data is sent electronically with a click of a button.
The Council will address the additional appropriation again at their April meeting.
