County approves poll‑pad purchases, redaction software and applies for Secretary of State grant funds

Liberty County approved the purchase of 35 replacement polling tablets (poll pads) at a cost of $38,500 and adopted a resolution to apply for grant funding from the Texas Secretary of State that would reimburse a portion of the expense. County officials said state HAVA/HAVA‑related funds would make the county eligible for approximately $42,500 in grant support, with a required county match of roughly 20 percent.

County elections staff also requested approval to add special ballot‑redaction software to the VISTA SG system. The initial license cost is $2,487.50, professional services to install and train are $5,200, and the annual support cost will be $2,125. The software strips ballot styles and identifying metadata from public records produced in response to public‑information requests; staff described the purchase as a Secretary of State requirement to protect voter identification during records production. The court voted to approve the purchase and to include the expenses in the grant application when eligible.

Separately the court approved a county jury‑selection plan presented by district judges, and it approved purchases of replacement laptops for clerk staff ($3,730.76) and a notices kiosk for the Cleveland Annex ($9,829.76) funded from the county clerk records management account. The court authorized staff to apply for Secretary of State grant funds and to proceed with election purchases subject to available grant funding.