County discusses new election equipment

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors held special work sessions on Monday afternoon to shop around for new election equipment, looking at different options that had been researched by county staff.

County Recorder Robyn Stallworth Poquette and Election Services Director Laura Sanchez led discussion about various vendors and the “electronic poll books” they sell. These allow poll workers to check voters’ registration while they’re waiting in line to vote, along with many other tasks.

Staff had tried out poll book products from companies ES&S (provider of the county’s current equipment), Votec, Knowink, Tenex and Robis-AskEd, which were all discussed with the board.

Many of the county’s poll books failed numerous times during November’s general election, leading to long lines at some voting centers. ES&S is offering new poll books at a discount because the county had not been informed of a potential problem with the current ones before the election.

Stallworth said staff was considering several other factors, including the county’s ability to upload its own data rather than to send it to the vendor for processing.

On Monday the board also watched demonstrations of tabulation equipment and ADA-ballot marking device from Barry Herron, director of sales at Unisyn, and by Dan Clark, regional sales manager for ES&S.

During its regular meeting Monday morning the board:

• Adopted property tax rates set by the county and all taxing districts located within it. The board is required to take this vote every year as part of the property tax collection process.

• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Yuma for the reconstruction of 8th Street between avenues C and D and transfer $3 million from the North Frontage Road project to cover its costs for the 8th Street work.

• Authorized the purchase of 20 Dodge Ram pickups for the sheriff’s department, at a cost up to $645,606, and six Ford Explorers for the assessor’s office, at a cost of up to $168,100, under the state purchasing contract.

• Approved the purchases of a Peterbilt roll-off truck for $152,000 from the Yuma Rush Peterbilt dealer and a Peterbilt water truck for $131,000 from the Tucson Rush Truck Center, both for the public works department.

• Heard a presentation from Col. David Suggs, the new commanding officer of the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, about his vision for the base.