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ALPENA -- Alpena County will be getting election hardware and software upgrades after the state pledged money to help cover the cost of sweeping election equipment improvements around the state.
The new tabulators and software should be in place by the end of the year and ready to go in time for 2018 elections.
At Wednesday's board of commissioners finance committee meeting the commissioners voted to recommend that a Michigan Bureau of Election-Voting System grant, if the match is no more than $50,000, be accepted. The amount of the grant that will be used to pay a majority of the cost of the new technology is still unknown, but the application for the funding must be filed with the state no later than April 14.
County Clerk Bonnie Friedrichs said she has been attending showcases featuring the latest election equipment, but she hasn't decided yet which system to recommend to the board. She said the cost of the updated technology likely will cost about $250,000, but the grant likely would cover a majority of the cost. She said the match will be split between the city and townships. If the match is indeed $50,000, Friedrichs said the county's portion would be $30,000. She said she intends to choose what equipment and upgrades the county needs and not include options that have little use.
"We don't need all of the bells and whistles like all of the large precincts downstate do," she said. "I will look closely at all of the quotes, determine what we need and what we don't, and then get the vendor to sharpen their pencil to get as good a deal as possible."
Friedrichs said she already has reached out to other clerks in the state who have systems in place that are similar to Alpena County to see what packages they are purchasing, and how much they paid for them. She said she anticipates the new equipment and software should be delivered by the end of the year, and then it will need to be programmed and elections workers trained on the new technology. She said because there is no election in the county in 2017 there is plenty of time for everyone to become accustomed to the new tabulators, programs and modems before the first election in 2018.
"We are going to be on the tail end of the rollout around the state, but it will be this year," Friedrichs said.
The full board of commissioners will vote on the recommendation at its meeting March 30 at 1 p.m.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.