The 2016 general election is expected to be one of the busiest in years, and political districts in Sherburne County will be prepared with new election equipment this year.

 

Last December, the county purchased 33 new voting machines from Dominion Votes at a cost of about $480,000. That included a new server, hardware, software and system support.

 

The county proposed a plan to spilt the cost with cities and townships by setting up a cost-share program for jurisdictions to either pay the cost per machine ($6,926) up front, or over a four-year term starting in 2017.

 

The county board approved that plan earlier this month.

 

Elk River will be getting nine new machines. Big Lake City, Big Lake Twp. and East St. Cloud will receive three each. Baldwin Twp. and Zimmerman get two. Becker City, Becker Twp., Blue Hill Twp. Orrock Twp., Haven Twp., Palmer Twp. and Santiago Twp. get one each. Clear city and township will share one machine.

 

Auditor/Treasurer Diane Arnold said the City of Big Lake has already paid their portion in full.

 

Letta Whitaker of the Auditor/Treasurer’s Office said the machines arrived in May.

 

“We had them delivered to the History Center,” she said. “Each of the cities and townships had an opportunity to send their clerks over. They got to look at the machines and test them out with the company there.”

 

The Dominion system is an all-in-one optical scan tabulator and marking device that includes a wireless modem to transmit results. It automatically produces a complete summary statement that is approved by the MN Secretary of State.

 

Whitaker said the old systems were prone to problems and were one of the older systems still in use. She said the new system will save lots of time, especially with information being tabulated and transmitted wirelessly.

 

Actual cost of the system is $480,460 with an additional $164,485 for a five-year license and firmware fee.

 

The machines will replace the old M100 and AutoMark machines purchased by the county in 2006.