County may finally get arrival OK on new voting machines

Young County’s new voting machines – which were purchased in 2014 – are expected to be delivered on Jan. 3 Election Administrator Lauren Sullivan said. Young County purchased 65 of the Verity 2.0 voting machines and other necessary equipment from Hart InterCivic two and a half years ago for $330,000. The process of getting certification on the machines both federally and through the state has delayed the machines making their way to Young County. “I really do think it is going to be the best thing for the county. My understanding is when they do come and bring those machines it will be a fairly lengthy affair of getting them all unloaded and getting the current ones back, and then I will have a guy here in the office with me from Hart (InterCivic) to help me do all the acceptance testing, and that should take the remainder of that week in January,” Sullivan said. The machines have been certified at the federal level and are awaiting a state certification by Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos. The deadline for public email comments to the Secretary of State regarding the new Hart voting machines is Dec. 15 Sullivan said. “After that deadline passes then he will make his decision. We should hear something fairly immediately because this public comment period has been open for at least 60 days,” Sullivan said. Bureaucratic quagmire The project was originally supposed to take nine to 12 months but due to bureaucratic red tape has been extended, Sullivan said. At the Young County Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, Sullivan said Cascos is waiting until the end of the public comment period to sign. “There were questions during the public comment period that he wanted to make sure that he had adequate answers for, and so they extended that,” Sullivan said. For the rest of this story, subscribe to our print or online edition.