A DuPage County judge is being asked to decide whether the county’s election commission failed to give a San Diego-based company a fair opportunity to compete for a contract. Votec Corp. initially filed a protest with the county’s procurement office after the DuPage County Election Commission in November awarded Hart InterCivic a nearly $500,000 deal to supply the commission with electronic poll books, which are computerized logs to check in voters at the polls. Votec claimed in its protest that the election commission “violated and/or failed to adhere to” its procurement ordinance when it awarded the contract. But after reviewing Votec’s protest, the county’s chief procurement officer, John Meneghini, rejected it. Then an appeal of Meneghini’s decision was denied by commission Chairwoman Cathy Ficker Terrill.
So this week, Votec filed a lawsuit against the election commission and several individuals, including Terrill and Meneghini.
“We don’t feel we have gotten an appropriate response or consideration or a decision of our protest,” said Jim Rome, an attorney representing the company. Still, the commission has stood by its selection of a vendor for the electronic poll books.
On Friday, commission attorney Pat Bond said the lawsuit is “wholly without merit.”
“There’s absolutely no legal basis that would allow them to pursue an action against the election commission on these facts,” Bond said.
Full Article: Vendor suing DuPage’s election commission – DailyHerald.com.