Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the voting machines on the first day of early voting at NexusPark in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.
Bartholomew County is getting new voting machines for the first time in over two decades, just in time for next year’s elections.
Bartholomew County election officials had given the county council a heads up they were considering replacing the machines in June, and the council gave consent, although they didn’t take a vote.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners on Monday approved the purchase of 125 new voting machines from Indianapolis-based MicroVote General Corp. for $350,498.75, contingent on final approval by the council during budget deliberation time, which gets started this month.
Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz said the current machines, purchased 20 years ago, are nearing the end of their expected life-span.
“They have been a workforce for us,” Lentz said. “… I want our voters to be comfortable and we have to have good transparency.”
Election officials knew they were prepared for the 2024 elections, in part because they had a number of backup machines. But they noted the brightness on the voting panels was not quite as luminescent as it once was. The clerk said they also had to switch out a couple of machines at stations that had been accruing lines.
“Thankfully, we had plenty to do so,” Lentz said of backup machines. “But talking to our vendor, MicroVote, they said: ‘I don’t know how many more years you’re going to expect these to last.’”
“I relate it to being like an old computer,” Lentz continued. “It’s still working, but it’s not as good as a new system.”
Lentz told county council members in June that time was of the essence to make the purchase as well, because the president’s tariffs were going to increase the cost of the purchase by $10,000. The commissioners indicated that Lentz had to push for the vendor to honor the non-tariff price.
When Lentz presented to the council, she said that MicroVote only had a certain amount of machines ordered “that do not have any kind of tariff on them.”
Lentz was able to reach an agreement where the county will make a 60% down payment on the new machines, and will pay the remainder of the cost in two installments in 2027 and 2028. The county will make an initial payment of $210,299.25, followed by two installments of $70,099.75 in 2027 and 2028.
That machines leave a voter-verified paper audit trail, Lentz noted. After County Councilman Jorge Morales, R-District 4, remarked in June that “I’m assuming also these machines are not hackable,” Lentz responded: “No, they’re not connected to the internet.”
The machines are expected to be delivered by December, according to Lentz.
