County gets new voting equipment at little cost
MARQUETTE — As the state of Michigan begins rolling out new voting machines this year that will be used for the next decade, the cost to local municipalities in Marquette County will be “next to nothing,” officials said.
Clerk Linda Talsma said Marquette County’s past vendor, Dominion Voting Systems, will remain as provider, and voters likely won’t notice any big differences with the newer equipment.
“The ballots will look the same to the voters,” she said. “The machines will … process the same way, so it’s not going to be a big change for them. They’re newer, so they’ll run a little bit more efficiently, just like any update on any electronic machine, it’s just going to be beneficial for the process.”
After the Michigan Secretary of State whittled down the number of qualified vendors to three, county clerks across the state worked with their municipal clerks to make a final selection.
“We’re going to be on the earlier end of things, so I want to implement this in August,” Talsma said of the new machines.
The equipment in Marquette County includes 42 ballot tabulators and 33 accessible devices for use by voters with disabilities, as well as election-management and reporting software.
The total cost to purchase the equipment is nearly $365,400. The state is paying for roughly 82 percent of that, leaving the county and local municipalities with a bill of just over $66,000.
However, Talsma said due to a bidding war among suppliers, the vendor agreed to waive the entire purchase expense for the county and municipalities.
“I can’t make a better deal than that,” she said. “The expense for this is next to nothing. It is nothing the first five years, and then it becomes a maintenance contract years six through 10, which is a very nominal fee. But we want a maintenance agreement in place, which is just good business.”
A long-term maintenance fee of $26,670 to be divided among municipalities and the county will be incurred over the last five years, with no local expense during the first five.
The cost to each municipality will differ depending on the number of voting machines each has.
Talsma said the current machines have been in use throughout the county since the early 2000s.
Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.