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Commissioners approve cybersecurity grant application and purchase of 25 e-poll books
Summary
County staff told the court a DHS mitigation grant could cover ~70% of planned cybersecurity upgrades (estimated project ~$535,000) and the court approved applying; commissioners also approved buying 25 additional e-poll books using HAVA funds at an estimated cost of $49,000.
County staff told the court they will apply for a U.S. Department of Homeland Security-funded cybersecurity mitigation grant and asked the court to authorize matching funds if required. Pam (speaker 8) and Nathan (speaker 9) said the total project would be about $535,000, with a required 30% match. The county's share was quoted as $160,500 with a grant award portion of $374,500.
Nathan described likely purchases the grant would cover, including updated county phone and network equipment and battery backups to reduce outages: "Battery backups around the county... those are costly," he said, adding the grant would help cover infrastructure costs that the county would otherwise pay. Commissioners voted to authorize submittal of the application and to accept the funds if awarded.
Separately, Elections Administrator Tammy Tandy (speaker 10) asked the court to authorize a joint-election contract under Texas Election Code ch. 271 for May 2 and to procure 25 additional electronic poll books using HAVA grant expansion funds to add capacity at polling sites. Tandy said the estimated cost for 25 e-poll books is $49,000 and that current voter registration totaled 113,528. The court approved the joint-election contract authorization and the e-poll book purchase by voice vote.
Next steps: staff will submit the DHS grant application before the deadline and proceed with procurement for the e-poll books using HAVA funds.
