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County plans equipment purchases and poll-worker setup stipend ahead of primaries
Summary
Elections staff asked commissioners to recommend purchasing additional poll books, precinct counters and printers and proposed compensating judges for a pre-election setup day; the commission acknowledged the request and will forward equipment and compensation proposals to commissioners court.
Elections staff told commissioners they will request additional equipment to support the primaries, including extra poll books, precinct counters and printers. The office estimated roughly $200,000 in equipment requests overall and noted the primaries use a wider spread of polling places and require more devices than the November election.
Because countywide polling now uses printers and tablets, staff said they want judges to begin setting up polling places the day before an election to test printers and run test ballots; the office proposed adjusting compensation to cover that set-up day or allowing judges to bill hourly for the additional time. Staff said some of the costs are reimbursable by the state for primaries and some will be charged to the jurisdictions the county contracts with.
The administrator said they had reverted to spreadsheets for poll-worker tracking after losing vendor functionality and that staff will bring formal poll-worker-management recommendations to a future meeting. Commissioners moved to acknowledge the equipment and compensation discussion; the motion was seconded and the presiding judge called the motion carried.
