Sharon Harrington, Lee County supervisor of elections, rescinded her $890,000 request Wednesday to fix the issue of incompatible iPads. Harrington also said she would ask the county to audit her office following controversial purchases that nearly caused taxpayers to foot a bill of $1.6 million in incompatible iPads. The audit by Linda Doggett, Lee clerk of court, could start as soon as two weeks and take between two and three months at a cost of about $20,000. The audit will review the purchases, procedures and policies of Harrington.
Harrington spent almost $750,000 on 800 iPads for voters to register with, but the tablets weren’t compatible when the IT staff wanted to stretch their value and have them be used for early voting. Harrington never had an independent contractor check to see if the iPads were compatible nor did she put the project out for a competitive public bid. She was asking for the $890,000 to replace the system.
Harrington read to members of the media Wednesday afternoon a letter she sent to Brian Hamman, chairman of the Board of Lee County Commissioners, explaining why she is repealing her controversial request: “Given the current conditions and for the sake of ensuring public trust, I want to let you know … that the Supervisor of Elections Office is respectfully withdrawing its budget request to the board … to replace our existing poll pads.”
Harrington refused to take questions and quickly left after reading the letter.
Full Article: Harrington withdraws $890,000 iPad fix; audit to come.