Elections administrator gets approval for software upgrade and annual support renewals

Hardin County's elections administrator, Alyssa Freeman, won court approval on June 10 for software upgrades, a new account server used for tallying and renewal of annual software support.

The upgrades and renewals are important because they maintain election system security and vendor support ahead of future elections; the elections administrator said some existing poll pads are nearing end-of-service and will be replaced in a later action.

Freeman requested $9,093.20 for professional services, related supplies and an account server needed to upgrade from software version 2.4 to 2.7; the court authorized two new line items for the elections budget and transferred $8,825 from the printing line item to cover the purchase. Freeman explained the purchase is mainly for the central server that runs election totals and that chips for individual machines will be purchased for upgrades to each unit.

The court also approved payment of two invoices to Hart InterCivic under the master agreement: INV002893 for $8,500 and INV002899 for $14,620, described in the agenda as annual software license and support and reflecting a 4% increase from the previous year's pricing. The auditor was authorized to transfer $3,373 from the printing line item to the software license and support line to cover those invoices.

Freeman said the county's poll pads are nearing end of service and that the county will return later with a request to replace them and add several additional units.

Both the software upgrade and the invoice payments passed by voice vote.