Sherburne County forms elections review committee amid questions over voting-system contract extension

Sherburne County commissioners approved an extension of the county's election equipment agreement but directed staff to convene an elections review committee to answer technical and certification questions before final implementation.

Commissioner Schumacher, who pulled the contract extension from the consent agenda for separate discussion, outlined four specific questions for staff and the vendor: whether the product is compliant with the voluntary voting system guidelines version 2 (VVSG2); whether the county's mostly-2016 equipment can be made compliant through software updates alone or will require new scanners, tabulators, ballot-marking devices and servers; whether the vendor offered credit or other compensation for a 2024 thumb-drive upload error that required hand counts; and whether county IT (Director Drew) will have full access to review and test software and participate in election-day operations rather than relying solely on vendor support.

"Is the product VVSG2 compliant? If not, can we get a firm plan and timeline to meet VVSG2 and state which parts of the executive order the vendor claims to satisfy?" Schumacher asked, listing certification timing and backup plans as additional concerns.

Chair Rand Danialowski said he supported routing the questions to the standing elections committee (the chair and Commissioner Hulse) and asked staff to arrange a meeting. County Administrator Bruce Messelt agreed to convene the county's elections review process with Auditor and IT staff, saying, "Lorraine and Drew and I can get together and we'll review the questions and then convene the elections review committee and go over them."

The board then approved the motion to extend the agreement by voice vote while formally assigning follow-up tasks to staff and the elections review committee. Commissioners did not record roll-call tallies in the transcript; votes were taken by voice and the chair announced, "That motion carries." The committee will report back with details on VVSG2 compliance, a work plan and cost projections, vendor remedies for prior errors, and contingency plans for the 2026 election, including whether the county could run the 2026 election with current equipment or by a hand-count backup.

The county's next procedural step is for staff to schedule the elections review committee meeting and circulate the vendor responses and IT review findings to the full board.