Brevard supervisors approve immediate purchase of 200 new tabulators to replace aging voting machines

The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 11 approved a budget amendment to allow the Supervisor of Elections to purchase 200 new precinct tabulators now rather than splitting the order across fiscal years.

Supervisor of Elections (unnamed) told commissioners the county’s current DS200 tabulators were purchased in 2013 and are no longer compatible with recently certified software. He said the machines “will crash, and they will not function properly” with early‑voting equipment and that running two different types of tabulators would force additional training and create operational complications.

The supervisor asked the board to approve a $705,254.16 mid‑year budget amendment to buy the remaining machines now. He said the vendor offered to ship all 200 units immediately and to bill half in the current fiscal year and half in the next, but that his office cannot obligate future fiscal years without board authority. He also reported negotiating a $142,000 trade‑in value for the county’s existing tabulators.

Commissioners asked about savings and timing. The supervisor identified roughly $3,000 in incremental shipping savings from receiving the full order on one truck, said consolidating warranty cycles would simplify maintenance, and said having all machines on a single platform would avoid training poll workers on two systems. He said the county could not use the full new fleet for the April primary but hoped to have them deployed for a June election.

Commissioner Altman moved and Commissioner Delaney seconded a motion that gives the county manager authority to advance funds as needed and replenish them in the mid‑year supplement; the motion passed on a 5-0 roll call.

The action authorizes staff to complete acquisition, accept vendor terms as negotiated and manage payment timing with the county’s budget office so the equipment can be accepted and installed after acceptance testing.