County commissioners approve purchase of new voting systems

The Cape Girardeau County Commission has approved a bid selecting a new voting system to operate during elections for the foreseeable future.

County Clerk Kara Clark Summers recommended purchasing the Unisyn OpenElect Voting System 2.2 from Henry M. Adkins & Son Inc. Election Services of Clinton, which the commissioners agreed to during their Thursday, May 30, meeting.

“We appreciate the public’s input. We appreciate the media being there. We talked extensively with our staff and the county IT director. We reviewed all the proposals,” Summers said. “There was something we liked about every company … but overall, we feel like the best solution is going with Henry Adkins and the Unisyn OpenElect voting system.”

She said the company’s cost, security features and previous service for the county factored into the decision to select them. Cape Girardeau County elections have utilized older Unisyn models for the last 13 years.

The new models were purchased for $314,943 with an annual software-licensing fee of $10,500. Summers expects them to last for the next 12 to 15 years.

Adkins Election Services was among four companies submitting bids for election systems. The others were Elkins-Swyers Co. of Springfield; Elections Systems & Software of Omaha, Nebraska; and Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas. The former three companies presented at a public voting machine demonstration on May 10 at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau.

The County Clerk’s Office ordered 35 Unisyn OpenElect election systems. Two of them will be kept as spares, two more apiece will be used at central polling and absentee voting locations, 26 will be distributed among polling locations and additional machines will be used at the Arena Building, Jackson Elks Lodge and Southeast Missouri State University due to the volume of voters there.

Voting equipment is tested before and after elections for security. Summers also said the state’s election laws help make elections more secure. Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst mentioned Summers’ office has passed two election security audits from the Missouri Office of the Secretary of State in the last five years.

“I feel like Missouri has good election laws,” Summers said. “I say that a lot, but I mean it that we have good election laws and processes in place and procedures that we have to follow. Not every state has those.”

Other business

After approving the bid for voting systems, commissioners approved a contract with Republic Services for dumpster services. Each county department would proportionately pay into a $1,278.91 monthly contract, depending on the size of the dumpster they use.