Porter County election board weighs $1.6 million replacement after flood damages voting machines
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Summary
Board members discussed flood damage to hundreds of ExpressVote machines and a staff plan to replace the fleet with uniform ExpressVote 3 machines; staff estimated a replacement cost around $1.6 million while insurance and trade-in amounts remain under negotiation.
Porter County election officials told the county’s election board that a flood damaged a large portion of their ExpressVote voting machines and that staff will seek legal and budgetary authority to replace the fleet with a uniform model.
In the meeting, an election office staff member said the flood damaged “two thirds of our Express…machines” and that about 200 machines require replacement. The staff member said replacing the equipment with the ExpressVote 3 would consolidate machine types and make training and security uniform. “If you have two different machines sitting next to each other, our voters are not going to understand why they’re voting on different machines,” the staff member said.
Why it matters: The board’s equipment decision affects the administration of upcoming elections and the county budget. Election staff described both operational and voter-experience reasons for buying a single machine type: uniform security, consistent training materials and simplified public testing.
Staff told the board they plan to ask counsel to pursue purchase of the ExpressVote 3 fleet and to firm up trade-in numbers and final vendor quotes ahead of the February meeting. The staff estimated a replacement cost “roughly 1,600,000” and said insurance negotiations are ongoing. A public commenter, Barbara Dommer, cited an insurance estimate of about $800,000 and described a potential county share of roughly $1.2 million.
Board members emphasized the need to keep the procurement timetable tight if they want new machines in time for the primary. The staff said final quotes and trade-in values will be emailed to the board in advance of the next meeting and that counsel will be asked to prepare the formal request.
What’s unresolved: The final purchase price, insurance reimbursement and exact trade-in allowance remain under negotiation. Staff repeatedly described the figures as estimates and said they will bring final numbers and counsel recommendations to the next board meeting.
The board voted on routine items later in the meeting; the equipment request was presented as a staff direction to return firm quotes and counsel recommendations for formal action at a future meeting.