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Election Commission seeks $32 million for statewide scanner upgrade and recurring funds to cover rising election costs
Summary
Executive Director Howie Knapp briefed the subcommittee on Jan. 28 about a $32.9 million nonrecurring request to replace precinct ballot scanners and multiple recurring requests including $4.5 million to cover rising election costs, $4 million to raise poll worker pay, and $423,346 to fund five new FTEs.
Howie Knapp, executive director of the South Carolina Election Commission, told the Constitutional Subcommittee on Jan. 28 that the agency needs a major, nonrecurring appropriation to fund a statewide precinct‑level voting system upgrade and several recurring increases to cover rising election administration costs.
Knapp said the largest single request is for a nonrecurring $32 million (the agency used a master lease of about $32.9 million in the prior cycle including interest and payments) to replace precinct ballot scanners after an unanticipated need surfaced when Beaufort County created multiple new precincts and the vendor no longer manufactured the legacy scanner model. Knapp reported that the Commission had not received timely notice of the local precinct changes and that the late change necessitated a uniform statewide upgrade rather than a mixed‑system approach.
Why it…
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