Board of elections considers purchase of optical scanner

The Highland County Board of Elections met Tuesday morning and discussed the purchase of a new optical scanning machine that would be used on election days, as well as some ballot issues. 

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner had been scheduled to visit the office Tuesday but cancelled due to a board of elections issue in Cuyahoga County. In her final months in office, Brunner is attempting to visit the 88 boards of elections offices she oversaw during her terms in office. Brunner lost a bid for U.S. Senate in the May primary election to Lee Fisher. Fisher, a Democrat, faces Republican Rob Portman in the general election. As of Tuesday morning, she had not rescheduled the visit. 

After passing two resolutions, each regarding a replacement fire levy in Paint Township and Washington Township, the Highland County Board of Elections recessed until Wednesday morning, following a meeting with the Highland County commissioners. 

According to the board, they will discuss with commissioners the purchase of a high speed optical scanner, which is utilized during the counting process. The scanner normally costs more than $80,000 but is available for purchase by the county at half the price until Wednesday. 

The board is scheduled to meet with the commissioners at 8:30 a.m., and following that meeting, they will reconvene at the board of elections office, located at 1575 North High St.

Steve Witham, elections administrator, said the discounted price is available because of a lawsuit settlement between the scanner's manufacturer, Diebold, and Cuyahoga County. 

"Cuyahoga sued them about three years ago, and this has just now filtered down from that," Witham said. 

All Ohio counties that use the touch-screen machines were included in the litigation - including Highland County - and as a result received several options to choose from regarding equipment from the company. Some of the options the county chose included a deal on licensing fees and equipment upgrades. Additionally, Ayres said, the Diebold settlement allowed Highland County to receive a number of voting machines equal to 15 percent of the machines the county currently has. That results in 23 additional machines, a savings to the county of an estimated $91,000.

Witham said Highland County currently has five extra machines, and the new machines gives the county a total of 28 extra machines. 

Highland County Board of Elections President Kay Ayres said the commissioners had approved the purchased of the scanner prior to all the "fiscal difficulties" the county faced, during which all counties' budgets were cut.

Purchasing the scanner will allow a quicker counting of the ballots on election night, which will equal a quicker release of results, according to board of elections member Dinah Phillips. 

In other business, the board of elections office is still waiting to hear back from the secretary of state's office regarding ballot issues for the November general election. During a meeting last week, the board voted to certify candidates and issues and submitted them to the secretary of state's office. Witham said the board is still waiting to hear back from the office.