Bladen County elections staff and Heart Intercivic outline plan to replace aging voting equipment after incident reports

Bladen County's elections office told county leaders it is seeking to replace a decade-old voting system after an election cycle that produced dozens of equipment incident reports. Miss Wagner of the Board of Elections said the county recorded 51 incident reports involving current tabulation equipment and that the State Board has directed counties to pursue replacement and software updates.

Representatives from Heart Intercivic, identified on the record as Kelly Hood and Shawn Phillips, presented the company's voting system proposal. Heart Intercivic described a hand-marked, paper-based system with ballot-on-demand printing for early voting sites, scanning equipment, and a ballot-production service to prepare and proof ballots. The vendor said its products are manufactured in Austin, Texas, and emphasized on-site support: company staff attend the first election and first day of early voting at each county and provide training to poll workers and county staff.

Heart Intercivic offered purchase and a three-year lease option; the presenter said the lease is intended to reduce upfront cost and cited an illustrative interest rate of 5.29 percent for a financing option. The company said equipment carries a one-year warranty with an option to purchase extended hardware coverage and that consumables (paper rolls, batteries) will be ongoing costs. The vendor also described customer-service programs including annual checkups and monthly webinars.

Elections staff and the vendor discussed grant support: the state is offering a software-upgrade grant that totals $42,100 and will be split among 14 counties, giving Bladen County roughly $3,007 under that allocation; the transcript indicates that is the only state grant currently available for software upgrades. County staff said some federal or state grants may be available to cover parts of replacement costs, but the county will need to follow state procedures for demonstration, preliminary recommendation and testing before the State Board can approve a new system.

No formal procurement decision was recorded in the meeting segment; Heart Intercivic answered commissioners' questions about precinct support, ballot production, transition from existing systems and the vendor's in-state staffing and warranty terms. The transcript records a raised concern about vendor responsiveness to the incumbent vendor and the county's desire for timely support during elections.

The election office and vendor agreed to follow the state-required steps for equipment replacement and to return to the Board of Commissioners or Board of Elections with final procurement and financing details for approval.