Voting machines in McCracken County are nearing 15 years old, which is the life expectancy of the equipment. Although the current equipment is functional, county officials are preparing its eventual replacement.
According to McCracken County Clerk Julie Griggs, each voting machine costs between $6,500 and $7,500 with a total cost of approximately $750,000 to replace all of the equipment.
When the equipment was previously purchased, the state took on the costs, however Griggs says this time it will be entirely up to each county to supply their own equipment.
"When these machines were purchased back in 2005 and 2008, the state funded all of it, they paid for all of the equipment. That's not going to happen this time, each individual county has to go to their fiscal courts and ask for the money," Griggs said.
"When these machines were purchased back in 2005 and 2008, the state funded all of it, they paid for all of the equipment. That's not going to happen this time, each individual county has to go to their fiscal courts and ask for the money," Griggs said.
She stressed that although they will need to purchase the new equipment within the next three years, the current equipment isn't having any problems, and will be used in the upcoming elections.
"That's one of the things that I wanted to stress is that I want our voters to feel confident in the fact that these machines, you know, work as they're supposed to. I don't want them to think that we're getting ready to face a crisis, that they're not working as they should." Griggs continued, "Our election vendor, they are so good. Their customer service is awesome. They come down before each election to test the machines, set them up for us and to make sure everything is in proper working order."
According to Griggs, her goal is just to be prepared.
She said, "I'm just getting a head start on it. Putting a bug in fiscal court's ear, letting them know that this is something we're going to have to really start seriously thinking about in the next couple of years."
She said, "I'm just getting a head start on it. Putting a bug in fiscal court's ear, letting them know that this is something we're going to have to really start seriously thinking about in the next couple of years."
