Dare County elections staff discusses ballot-on-demand printers, state 'hub' sites and public demos

Dare County elections staff described the county’s exploration of a ballot-on-demand system from Printelect and outlined how the state supports several counties with hub sites that can print ballots for other counties in an emergency.

Kelly, director of elections, said about 40 North Carolina counties use Printelect’s ballot-on-demand equipment. She told the board the machines are commonly used for absentee and early voting and that staff have heard no negative feedback. Kelly said the state has placed ballot-on-demand machines in several "state hub" counties — Pasquotank was named as a hub for Dare County — so a county experiencing a problem could have ballots printed nearby within an hour or two.

Kelly said the county would invite the vendor back for a public presentation and demonstration of the specific equipment the county would purchase; the vendor demonstration would be scheduled at a board meeting, she said, so it is part of the public record and broadcast. Kelly said the county will also invite commissioners and other interested members of the public to that presentation.

Chair Skip clarified that the state hubs provide equipment and printing support and are not intended to outsource the county’s authority over tabulation or vote counting. "This is just equipment, it's just equipment," the chair said, cautioning against any suggestion that a hub would assume local vote-counting authority.

Board members discussed the benefits for continuity of operations in a large election and asked staff about timeline and demonstrations. Kelly also noted that several named counties — including Nash, Watauga and Scotland — operate hub machines, which can link to a county’s ballot files and print a county’s ballots on demand.

No procurement decision was finalized at the meeting; staff outlined next steps for public demonstrations and further vendor evaluation.