Kanawha County commissioners will have to come up with $60,000 to $70,000 to pay for maintenance of electronic voting machines. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant’s office was in the process of negotiating a statewide maintenance contract with Electronic Systems and Software that could have reduced the cost for counties, Commission President Kent Carper said.
But, Carper believes the negotiations must have stalled and the counties around the state were left holding the bag. “And we have an election coming up,” he said. Warranties for the machines expire at the end of September.
Carper said Tennant’s office claims to have sent a letter informing the county, but said he hasn’t seen it.
County Clerk Vera McCormick learned of the maintenance costs during a call to Tennant’s office for another matter, Carper said. Carper believes other counties are unaware of the situation.
“We need to reach out to other state’s to see who is fixing their machines,” Carper said.
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