City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

Meeting Date:  03/21/06

Item No.:        

Recommendation: That the Council:

a.         authorize the purchase of six (6) Edge accessible voting systems, in accordance             with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), from Command Central/Sequoia,   for an amount not-to-exceed $36,000;

b.         authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute a grant application to the      Wisconsin State Elections Board for reimbursement.

Background:

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was enacted in 2002, and requires that every polling site ensure privacy and independence in the voting process for persons with disabilities, which includes having accessible voting equipment in place no later than Sept. 12, 2006. As indicated in the attached letter from the State Elections Board, Wisconsin has allocated funds for the purchase of one accessible voting system per polling location, to a maximum of $6,000 per site, subject to receipt of an official grant application.  We currently use six (6) polling sites.

The Milwaukee County Election Commission sponsored vendor demonstrations of HAVA-compliant voting equipment in February, and last week the top two vendors provided an additional demonstration for municipal staff and persons in the disabled community.  The State and County are not recommending a specific equipment purchase, but are leaving the choice up to the individual municipalities.

After reviewing the positives and negatives for each of the top two systems, we are recommending purchase of the Sequoia Edge voting systems, through Command Central.  One of the primary reasons for recommending this product is that the equipment is completely compatible with the current Eagle III-P voting machines, and will not require the use of two separate vendors for handling hardware and software needs for each election.  In addition, the Edge systems can be programmed and serviced by the same staff of technicians that handle service for our current machine. 

A small number of persons with disabilities were present to try out the demonstration machines and, although this system was not their preference, all of them found the machines to be adequate for their needs.  Our intent is to allow any interested voters the opportunity to utilize the machine, and not to restrict usage to persons with disabilities.

A complete packet of information on the Edge voting machine is available in the Clerk’s office.   

The lead time for production of the machines is around 4 months, so by ordering the machines now, we would anticipate delivery in early August, in sufficient time to have pollworkers trained by the Sept. 12, 2006 Fall Primary Election.  The price of each machine is expected to be approximately $5,000 to $5,200, with a price break depending on how many machines are purchased within Milw. County.  The balance of funding available, up to the $6,000 limit, will be used to purchase additional supplies and to pay for future maintenance costs.  (It should be pointed out that once the initial grant funding is exhausted, this becomes another unfunded mandate, since ongoing maintenance, programming and supply costs will be borne by local taxpayers.)

Fiscal Impact: 

The City will process payment from Fund 40-Capital Improvements & Equipment, with funds reimbursed by the Wisconsin State Elections Board.

	Respectfully submitted, Patrick DeGrave City Administrator
Prepared by and Fiscal Review by: Beverly A. Buretta, CMC City Clerk