(TNS) – For five tense days, the people charged with running the elections in the 46 counties of South Carolina did not know whether they would obtain the voting equipment they need to streamline the voter verification process and lessen the likelihood of greater fear. of each electoral officer: Voters who received the wrong ballot on election day.
Then, on Wednesday night, they exhaled.
At 7:05 pm, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster approved the SC Election Commission’s request for $ 5 million to purchase devices known as electronic ballot papers.
Without this equipment, electoral officials feared that state voters would stand in longer lines and face a slower check-in process at their polling stations.
Electronic voting books, also known as electronic voting books, replace the paper process previously used to verify voters when they appear to vote. Instead of paper folders, e-poll books use a tablet or laptop.
County election officials were told during a call on Friday that the devices were unlikely to arrive for the next November 3 election. The news, delivered 46 days before the election, left the authorities struggling to find a solution.
Chris Whitmire, a spokesman for the SC Election Commission, said the commission had set a self-imposed deadline for finding the necessary money by the end of this week. Even after the equipment is secure, it must be dispatched and voting staff must be trained on how to use the devices.
Whitmire spoke to The State in an interview before McMaster approved funding for the equipment on Wednesday night.
At least one county election official confirmed that he had already handed over his county’s electronic ballot papers to make room for the new technology.
News of the issue of funding around electoral equipment was first reported by The State on Wednesday night. Hours later, McMaster approved the funding request submitted by the Executive Director of the South Carolina Election Commission, Marci Andino.
The money will come from the state’s COVID-19 Response Reserve account, according to letters obtained by The State newspaper.
Whitmire said the status of the new electoral rolls was in limbo because there was no more money to pay for them and officials had to start looking elsewhere for funding.
But publicly, it appeared that the arrival of the new e-polls was imminent.
A SEARCH FOR FINANCING
The SC Election Commission announced its intention in late August to award Election Systems and Software a $ 6.5 million contract for a new statewide electronic voting book system. The company is the largest supplier of voting equipment in the country and had already been selected for the new electronic voting machines in the state.
Funds for the contract, said Whitmire, were tied to a $ 9.3 million one-time budget request by the SC Election Commission. The request was made before COVID-19 forced the SC Legislature to address pandemic-related funding priorities, which interrupted the normal budgeting process.
“Hope for state budget funding has faded,” Whitmire said Tuesday night after members of the House of Representatives sent the state budget back to the committee for review.
The legislative session ends at 5 pm on Thursday, when all pending projects die. The State Budget Forms and Means Committee does not have meetings scheduled for this week.
“We are exploring whether or not there are other sources of funding, while looking at the funding we have,” said Whitmire on Tuesday.
The state Electoral Commission received $ 6.3 million in federal funding after Congress approved a coronavirus aid package, along with up to $ 15 million from the state legislature, when McMaster signed a $ COVID-19 relief package. 155 million in May.
State funding was intended to support voting and security during the June primary and November general elections.
Whitmire said the state Election Commission had only about $ 4.5 million of the nearly $ 9.5 million needed to cover equipment costs.
“The new voting ballot solution would greatly improve the process of determining, selecting and providing voters with the correct voting style, which is a big part of what happens at a polling place on election day. It is one of the most critical things that happen, ”he said.
“It is time to determine whether this can happen and whether it can happen,” he said. “We either do it now or it’s too late.”
‘A massive update’
There are only a few weeks left for counties to hold a major presidential election, and county election officials were counting on these new devices as they prepared for longer lines, greater electoral participation and an increase in the number of absentee votes.
Joe Debney, director of the Charleston County Elections and Registry Council, said the new voter registration system will be “a massive update” to what counties currently use. He saw technology in action.
Charleston County tested the use of the new electronic survey books in 2018, rolling them out in the Folly Beach municipal elections, which served as a small test, as the election took place in a four-district location. The county then used the system at some polling locations the following June for the 2018 state primary elections to see how the system would handle a larger participation election with more voting styles.
Debney said it was a success.
“We need to know what the system is like, how it works and we need to be trained in it,” said Debney.
Berkeley County Electoral Director Adam Hammons said he had already handed over the old electoral rolls in anticipation of the new system.
“We never received any indication at the local level that there was even a doubt that this would be a problem,” said Hammons. “The unknown is the biggest loss for us right now. When do I pull the trigger to rent laptops? Or when should I wait? And can I cancel them if I don’t need them? “
Now, Hammons won’t have to worry.
After learning that funding was secured, Hammons said on Wednesday night that he hopes to receive the equipment to begin training election officials.
The voting equipment supplier was asked to send the electronic ballot papers as soon as possible.
© 2020 The State, distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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