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Board approves Runbeck contract for ballot printing; county negotiates anti-counterfeit options
Summary
After public concern about out-of-state mail routing and vendor transparency, Mohave County supervisors approved a contract award to Runbeck Election Services for ballot printing and added optional ballot-guard anti-counterfeit measures to be available under the contract at extra cost.
The Board of Supervisors on April 21 approved an award of a county solicitation for printing and mailing election materials to Runbeck Election Services of Phoenix, and directed staff to include available ballot guard anti-counterfeiting options as contract add-ons.
Why it matters: Voter-confidence concerns raised by speakers focused on ballot handling once printed and whether some runs route mail through out-of-state postal facilities. Staff and the county recorder said the selected vendor is among the few commercial printers that can produce ballots compatible with tabulation equipment and that counterfeiting countermeasures are available as contract options.
Public comment and concerns: A registered speaker, Jennifer Esposito, urged the board not to renew or award the contract because of reports that some ballots are routed through Las Vegas Postal facilities and because of vendor transparency concerns. She urged exploring options that would keep ballot mailings inside Arizona.
Procurement and recorder response: Procurement staff said the procurement was a new solicitation (not a renewal) that yielded two offers, including Runbeck in Phoenix and a national firm. The bid was structured as a national cooperative contract so other jurisdictions could optionally use it; procurement said it would collect administrative fees from external users. Recorder Erin Durst told the board Mohave County lacks staff and resources to operate a homegrown voter-registration system at current service levels and that the county historically paid the Secretary of State's AVID maintenance fee; the recorder said the state informed the county the intergovernmental agreement was not required for the maintenance payment.
Anti-counterfeiting options and cost: Runbeck representatives and county staff confirmed several available ballot-guard countermeasures (proprietary watermarks, invisible fibers, IR tags and special UV or microprint options). Procurement said these options are not included in the base line per-ballot price but are available as line-item add-ons for about 10'15 cents per ballot depending on the measures chosen; supervisors discussed using Mohave County to pilot or lead broader adoption to drive costs down.
Board action: The board approved the award to Runbeck and included contract language to allow ballot-guard anti-counterfeiting measures as available add-ons. The board also approved the procurement monthly report (item 15) at the same meeting. No changes to the county's voter-registration hosting decision were made at this meeting; Recorder Durst said remaining with the Secretary of State's AVID system would cost the county roughly $30,000 per year versus the substantially larger costs of building and staffing an in-house system.
The contract award process and the availability of anti-counterfeiting measures were the principal topics of debate; procurement said final contract documents will include the vendor responses and clarifications obtained during evaluation.
