County to get new voting machines
County to get new voting machines
Equipment expected to be available for November elections
news@theeveningtimes.com
After first offering to pay half the cost for counties to purchase new voting equipment then reneging after the money ran out, the state is now making another $4 million available — and Crittenden County is at the top of the list.
Judge Woody Wheeless informed the Quorum Court that a new round of money has been made available for new equipment.
“The Secretary of State’s Office contacted me this week and does have the money,” Wheeless said.
“They have a little over four million to appropriate.
So I guess everything is back on track again for what we thought it was going to be.”
Last year, the Secretary of State made one million dollars available to offset the costs, and Governor Asa Hutchinson pledged $5 million from his budget to help counties acquire new voting equipment.
The Quorum Court sent in its paperwork and were told they were on the list of recipients, but the money ran out before they were able to get its share. The state has offered to pay for 50 per- cent of the cost to replace voting machines that are over ten years old.
The cost to replace voting equipment in all 24 of the county’s polling locations is $573,246. The state offered to pay $287,816 of that, leaving the county’s share at $285,429.
“We are at the top of the list,” said County Treasurer Charlie Suiter.
Election Commissioner Frank Barton said they got an e-mail from the Secretary of State’s Office asking whether the numbers were still the same from last year and turned the paperwork in the same day.
“Some of our employees went to a training session and heard that we may be getting our equipment,” Barton said. “In the e-mail we got they wanted us to confirm the number of machines that we will need, which we did.”
Barton said it won’t be until November, however, until the machines will be able to be replaced.”
“It won’t be in time for the May primary,” Barton said.
By Mark Randall
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