Shawano County municipalities that currently have a touchscreen voting machine will have to replace it by 2027-28, according to an email from Shawano County Clerk Raymond Rigsby to several town and village officials.
Rigsby wrote in his Oct. 17 email that municipalities that use the ICX VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) need to switch it out or exchange it soon, because the QR ballot technology it uses won’t be in compliance with voting machine rules.
The new rules were discussed at an Oct. 14 meeting of Command Central, the Minnesota-based election management company that provides the voting machines for much of Wisconsin.
“Command Central is proposing something to address this now, that will save you the expense of a several thousand dollar machine later,” Rigsby said. “If all remaining municipalities in the county that have the ICX trade theirs in for ICE — the tabulators — Command Central will do it for no charge on the trade. There will be a $400 charge to each municipality to cover Command Central truck rental, labor for the preparation, delivery and exchange, installation and training.”
The value of the touchscreen on a normal trade to the manufacturer is $1,500-$1,800, and Command Central has recently been offering an inflated trade-in of $3,300, Rigsby said.
“Your deal, as long as all our current ICX municipalities go for it, will be getting a Command Central owned, barely used ICE, valued at approximately $7,000 (new ICE sell for more than $9,000) simply for trading in your ICX VPAT,” Rigsby said.
He said municipalities that wait two years to replace the equipment will most likely pay the full price at that time.
Rigsby is also the town clerk in the Town of Seneca, which has one touchscreen and one tabulator. He said the benefits of the tabulator over the touchscreen are automation and efficiency.
“No voters waiting to use the touchscreen, and everyone votes on a paper ballot, which is the most auditable paper trail there is if there were any post-election audits or FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests,” he said. “You save labor on election workers also, since there won’t be people hand counting ballots after the election anymore.”
Rigsby said it’s not unheard of for municipalities taking between two and four hours to perform hand counts after polls close. The new tabulator machine should eliminate that.
The $400 charge for the tabulator includes testing and preparation, installation of correct firmware, shipping, delivery, training and removal of the touchscreen equipment.
Like the touchscreens, the tabulators also have a hardware maintenance agreement ($425 per year) and firmware license fees ($228 per year).
Under the proposed trade-in plan, the new machines will be ready for use in the February 2026 primary election. Rigsby said training would be completed yet this year.
Affected municipalities include the Towns of Almon, Aniwa, Bartelme, Fairbanks, Germania, Pella, Red Springs, Seneca, Washington and Waukechon; and the villages of Aniwa, Birnamwood, Bonduel, Bowler, Eland, Gresham and Mattoon.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
