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Receive a presentation on the selection, budget and plan for updating decertified voting equipment for the March 3, 2020 Primary election and beyond; Consider approving a 5 year contract with Hart InterCivic, Inc. to replace existing decertified voting equipment plus support services from June 2019 through June 2024, for an amount not to exceed $2,288,361; and Authorize the County Administrator to execute the contract and any necessary contract amendments concerning terms and scope of services not to exceed 10% of the total contract amount
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Registrar of Voters recommends that the Board of Supervisors to:
1. Receive a presentation from the Registrar of Voters’ Office (ROV) on the selection, budget and plan for updating decertified voting equipment for the March 3, 2020 Primary election and beyond;
2. Approve a 5 year contract with Hart InterCivic, Inc. (Hart) to provide replacement voting equipment, support and professional services from June 12, 2019 through June 12, 2024 for an amount not to exceed $2,288,361;
3. Authorize the County Administrator to execute the contract and any necessary contract amendments concerning terms and scope of services not to exceed 10% of the total contract amount;
SUMMARY:
On March 26, 2019 the ROV presented to the Board a plan for researching vendors with the intent to procure a new voting system following the notice from the California Secretary of State’s office that existing voting equipment will be decertified effective August 27, 2019.
Through public demonstrations of two certified vendor solutions and conducting a request for proposal, the ROV has selected the system proposed by Hart InterCivic as the best fit for Solano County. This is also the same system that was overwhelmingly recommended by the public feedback received during our system demonstration on April 16, 2019.
The Hart Voting system provides for a paper-based voting system, with easy usability, portability for our pollworkers, and consistency of the voter experience whether voting on paper or on an accessible voting device. Additionally, the Hart system provides for more transparency into the ballot tabulation process by capturing digital images of every ballot processed. This digital image helps with the ROV operation for audits, and ensuring ballots are tabulated accurately.
The selected voting system and components will provide ROV with a method to continue to operate poll place elections with ballot scanners at each polling place, high-speed scanners for vote-by-mail tabulation, accessible voting devices at each location, integration with our electronic pollbooks, adopting new conditional voter registration methods at all polling places, and is scalable for future needs. The ROV also has reviewed the components selected to ensure that the system would be compatible with a change to the regional vote center model if necessary in the future.
In addition to Solano County, the Hart Voting system will also be used in the following counties in 2020 elections and beyond: Calaveras, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Orange, San Mateo, Nevada, Trinity and Yolo. Hart is a national provider of voting equipment and provides voting equipment to counties in 18 states including California.
If approved, the ROV will be accepting the voting equipment no later than July 1, 2019 which allows for time to train staff, conduct one mock election in August, conduct voter outreach to all seven cities, and be prepared for the March 3, 2020 Primary Election.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The combined total of the voting system replacement will be $2,415,361 as explained below. The majority of these costs are reimbursable by grants from state and federal sources.
Estimated Cost: Actual Cost:
Poll place ballot scanner
and accessible voting stations. $1,403,905 $1,434,387(1)
Central count tabulators and
Election management software. $1,168,612 $853,974(1)
Professional Services and
Additional supplies. $280,000 $112,000(2)
Staffing and operational costs
(for system implementation only). $0 $15,000(2)
Total Project costs: $2,852,517 $2,415,367
General Fund Expense:
(after grants applied) $838,000 $602,663
(1) The total contract cost for the first year of the voting equipment is $2,288,361 which includes costs for the voting equipment, professional services for training, and the first-year maintenance costs. Maintenance costs for each additional year are $110,441.17.
(2) In purchasing the new system, the ROV will also have additional expenses which are reimbursable through grants for the following: Storage and supplies for voting equipment: $62,000; Test Materials for the mock election $25,000; Outreach and education to voters $25,000; and additional staff time for training $15,000.
The ROV had previously estimated the net county cost for the new voting equipment would be $838,000. This amount was added to the ROV FY 19/20 requested budget. After refining the numbers the actual costs for the county will only be $602,663.01. The ROV will revisit appropriations with the County Administrator’s office during mid-year budget review.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to approve this contract, however, that is not recommended. The ROV believes that the voting system from Hart is a good fit for our voters and long-term use by the county. If the contract is not approved, the ROV would have to apply for an extension to use decertified equipment in the 2020 March Primary election; however, the Secretary of State designated a deadline of April 5, 2019 for this request.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel has been involved in the contract review. The Department of General Services facilitated the Request for Proposal process.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION