title
Approve a contract with Election Administrators LLC to provide an Electronic Roster system, including hardware, software licenses, and five years of software maintenance for $205,068 with a term from May 1, 2013 through April 30, 2018; and Authorize the County Administrator to execute the contract and any subsequent amendments not to exceed 10% of the total contract amount
body
Published Notice Required? Yes _____ No __X___
Public Hearing Required? Yes _____ No __X___
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Registrar of Voters (ROV) recommends that the Board of Supervisors approve a contract with Election Administrators to provide an Electronic Roster system for $126,818 for hardware and software licenses and $78,250 for five years of software maintenance for a total contract amount of $205,068 and authorize the County Administrator to execute the contract and any subsequent amendments not to exceed 10% of the total contract amount.
SUMMARY:
Electronic rosters speed up the check-in process for voters, which helps to diminish wait times and long lines. The ROV's office has been evaluating various electronic rosters systems including the software that was developed in-house and used in the last five elections. The ROV's consideration for this contract includes longevity expectations of the technology as well as its' ability to adapt to future laws, requirements and improvements. The selected systems' tablet technology is easier for poll workers to use and will increase successful operations in the field.
The best time to deploy new technology to polling places is in odd years when there are fewer elections and lower turnout. Deploying this technology now will improve efficiencies for the 2014 gubernatorial election.
The ROV believes that deploying electronic rosters countywide will reduce wait times at polling places, improve the provisional voting process by pre-printing voters' information directly from the electronic file, and assist in the canvass process by providing more timely and accurate posting of vote credit (voter history).
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The total cost for this system is $126,818 for 150 tablets, printers, and related software licenses and supplies. Additionally, the contract will require an annual maintenance cost of $15,650. The total five year initial term cost will be $205,868.
The ROV included $142,468 for the cost of the system plus first year maintenance in its FY2012/13 budget. The funding sources include a $43,000 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant from the Secretary of State, and the remainder $99,468 will be from the General Fund.
DISCUSSION:
The ROV has been studying the use of technology in the polling places since 2010 when netbooks were first deployed to speed up the check-in process for voters. Over the course of several elections, new ways have been identified to add additional efficiencies and cost savings, including the electronic printing of the street index (required every hour) and the printing of provisional voter information to avoid filling out additional paperwork for voters.
Technology has improved, and after studying multiple systems, ROV has determined that the EA Electronic Roster system will provide a cost effective solution to help with polling place check-in, programming, training and deployment, as well as speed up the canvass process for the ROV.
In studying voting issues and trends around the country, the ROV office is acutely aware of voting locations with long lines and believes implementation of this system will make a difference at county polling places by reducing wait times. By working with Election Administrators, the ROV will have a system that will be updated for new legislation at the state and/or federal level.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose from three possible alternatives:
1. Continue to utilize the current in-house e-roster program, and expand it to a countywide solution. This would require additional expense now, as the fleet of netbooks would have to be replaced due to age. Also, the printers utilized are very expensive to operate and are problematic for election workers.
2. Purchase an alternative e-roster system made by a different vendor. The ROV evaluated an alternative tablet e-roster system which was more expensive than the solution proposed. However, this system was as confusing/complicated for the poll workers as the existing system. This system also utilized out dated technology that would require updating by the ROV at a near future date.
3. Continue to use the existing system at roughly half of the precincts. This system is slowly getting outdated, does not provide for future improvements without development by DoIT, and doesn't address the ROV concerns regarding wait times and creating efficiencies at polling places.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel has reviewed and approved the contract as to form.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION