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Gila County approves HAVA‑funded purchase of new poll tablets and printers
Summary
Elections staff won board approval to spend a HAVA subgrant plus county funds to buy updated poll tablets and ballot‑on‑demand printers; staff said a legislative change required a dedicated hard‑line hookup from each tablet to its printer, increasing costs.
County elections manager Eric Christiansen briefed the board on a proposed purchase of electronic poll tablets and ballot‑on‑demand printers using Help America Vote Act (HAVA) subgrant funds ($85,253.41) plus elections department funds ($58,713.59), for a total package of about $143,949.
Christiansen said the federal HAVA funding arrives to states through the Elections Assistance Commission and that the Arizona Secretary of State allocates subgrants to counties by formula. He told the board the award originally appeared sufficient to pay for upgraded equipment, but legislative changes enacted after the county applied increased the security requirements. The vendor redesigned the system so each tablet is hard‑lined to its own printer to reduce any theoretical risk from wireless printing. "They have gone ahead now and we have a hard line hookup from the tablet to the printer so there's no more... signal that people can intercept," Christiansen said. The hardware will move the county from legacy devices to current Surface Pro devices and updated ballot‑on‑demand printers.
Supervisors asked whether the changes affect voting procedures; Christiansen said the equipment remains certified by the state and that the change is primarily a hardware/security configuration. The board moved and unanimously approved using the HAVA subgrant and elections funds as presented.
The county will proceed to purchase the tablets and printers from Election Systems & Software (E.S.&S.) under the presented funding plan to ensure polling‑place operations meet current state certification and the board's security expectations.
