Few people do things perfectly on the first try. There’s a learning curve, whether it’s a gymnast tumbling across an arena floor, a professional baseball player throwing his first pitch … or managing a data system essential to Mohave County’s 2018 General Election. That last example has been a cause for concern with Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson after an almost 36-hour delay in obtaining voter registration data after this year’s election. The delay was caused by e-poll staff unfamiliar with the county’s electronic polling software. Now Johnson has requested reimbursement from e-polling provider Robis Inc. for the county’s lost time. Mohave County began its contract in 2016 with Robis Inc, with the company acting as Mohave County’s vendor for electronic poll books, using a software known as Ask Ed. According to Johnson, data collection from Mohave County’s e-poll book software was seamless in 2016. The previous project manager left Robis in 2018, however, and a new project manager was assigned to Mohave County.
Data from Mohave County’s e-books is essential to the county’s electronic voting process, according to Johnson, because it allows County staff to know who voted, and allows the Elections Department to process ballots.
“When the recorder went to upload the data, she received several errors,” Johnson said. “The new project manager that was assigned to us was a new guy who wasn’t well-versed in how the system worked. While he did try to help us, the errors and delay caused the upload to not occur for one-and-a-half days after the election.”
Failing to upload such data prevented the Mohave County Recorder’s Office from counting early ballots, costing the county more than a day of productivity.
Full Article: Sup. Johnson expresses concerns over ballot software | Kingman Daily Miner | Kingman, AZ.