Putnam County will be purchasing new voting equipment, but not before the November election, county officials decided Tuesday.
Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood said the county will be able to rent ballot counting equipment for the upcoming election, but the county will not purchase new voting machines for this election.
"We don't want to go full out new equipment because we're worried about timing, and things like that," Wood said. "We don't want people being scared off."
In total, the new equipment will cost $856,130. The county will receive a $15,500 trade-in allowance for the old equipment, and a customer discount of $105,000. The company also has agreed to let the county make payments over a five-year period at zero percent financing.
"The current election equipment is getting worn out, it's outdated and needs replaced at some point," Wood said.
The new voting equipment uses generic cardboard paper instead of pre-printed paper ballots. At the end of each election, Wood said he has to shred every single unused printed ballot. The printed ballots cost the county $25,000 annually.
"I feel so guilty - literally, I am opening up brand new packages of ballots and shredding them," Wood said.
The equipment also will eliminate the possibility of over-voting. The voter cannot accidentally select more candidates than they're supposed to, which sometimes happens, he said.
After the voter casts his or her vote on the touch screen machine, the paper ballot will then come out of the machine, so the voter can review their selections one final time before placing their ballot in the ballot box.
The county received new machines in 2006, but only received the bare minimum of equipment from the state.
"Although it's only been 10 years, we've had a lot of elections. We've had a lot of special elections and we've had several different school levies that's been on these machines," Wood said. "We've been lucky we haven't had any recounts since I've been clerk. I think there's only been one."
Wood said he's confident that the equipment has been out long enough that the bugs are worked out, so Putnam County will not be the guinea pigs experimenting with brand new technology.
Commissioner Andy Skidmore said he supports the purchase of the new equipment,
"Our constituents expect Putnam County to lead the way," Skidmore said. "The equipment we have is going to have to be replaced at some point. Each day it's losing value as far as its trade-in value."
Commissioner Steve Andes disagreed with Skidmore and said he would rather spend a few extra hours working on election night than spend the money for new equipment.
"It's nice to have [but] I don't think it's something we need," Andes said. "Yeah, we want to be at the forefront but I think we need to be conservative where we spend our money."
The motion to move forward with purchasing the equipment passed with 2-1, with Andes voting against it.
Reach Laura Haight at laura.haight@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @laurahaight_ on Twitter.