Voting machine warranty debated

Luzerne County Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza says the warranty package proposed by the electronic voting machine vendor is too costly and includes services the county doesn’t need, so he’s come up with his own proposal.

The county should know within a week whether the vendor – Election Systems & Software – will sign on.

The plan that Piazza proposed during Thursday’s county Election Board meeting will cost up to $93,250 through the end of 2009, compared to the $322,935 proposed by ES&S for the same time period.

ES&S representative Willie “Wes” Wesley Jr. said he must see if company’s corporate officials will agree to Piazza’s plan for annual renewals, instead of a three-year commitment. Piazza also wants $8,650 in credit because half of the machines arrived late.

Piazza said he wants an annual renewal so the county isn’t on the hook in the unlikely event that the ATM-like machines are deemed unusable by state and federal election officials. Election board members pointed to Lackawanna County, which may not be permitted to use its machines in the general election.

Luzerne County officials said ES&S sales representative Todd Mullen verbally assured the county that there would be room for negotiation on the warranty when the county purchased the machines.

Wesley said Mullen no longer works for ES&S, and the company’s chief financial officer has indicated in the past that it was “a little unfair” to expect the company to honor verbal promises.

“That just causes me to wonder what kind of operation we’ve gotten into,” he told Wesley. “Are you going to do what you said or are you not?”

One expense he cut out was $67,860 for “firmware” maintenance and support. Firmware tells the machine how to operate. Wesley called it the “brains,” and said the expense entitles the county to free coverage when improvements must be made to the firmware.

However, Piazza said firmware changes must undergo strict state and federal approval, which could take years. And if government officials approve changes, the vendor is obligated to make them on machines, Piazza said.

Piazza also proposes the county put $25,000 in escrow in both 2008 and 2009 to fund repairs, rather than paying more money for warranty coverage that may not be needed.

That should be enough, he said, because the “bad ones” have been weeded out during the first three elections. He estimated that 19 machines have required repairs to date. Piazza said he would recommend replacement if the repairs were estimated to cost nearly as much as a new machine, he said.

“If we’re spending more than $25,000 each year, perhaps we have the wrong machines,” Piazza said.

The machines have a shelf life of six years, Piazza said. Wesley disagreed, saying it is 10 years.

Piazza said after the meeting that it’s likely that counties will have to replace their machines by 2012 due to age and changing standards.

Wilkes-Barre resident Tim Grier, who attended the meeting, sent a media letter after the meeting criticizing county officials for buying the machines without securing a warranty agreement in writing.

“As it appears that we are caught up in a mess when it comes to the warranty for these machines, I hope that you will not place the entire burden for this unfortunate situation on the shoulders of ES&S or Mr. Wesley,” he wrote.

Piazza also told the board Thursday that ES&S is increasing its fee to cover services such as machine coding and ballot preparation, which currently costs the county about $23,000 a year. Wesley said the increase will be up to 6 percent.

In other business, the election board agreed to check into election-related complaints raised by Grier, Swoyersville resident Richard Kamus and Wilkes-Barre resident Walter Griffith.

However, board members continued to stress that the county District Attorney’s Office is free to investigate without a request from the county election board.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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Election bureau chief proposes change to firm that would cut over $200,000.

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