BEVERLY KAUFMAN county clerk

Transcription

1 BEVERLY KAUFMAN county clerk August 30, 2010 Honorable County Judge & Commissioners Court 1001 Preston, 9th Floor Houston, TX Dear Members of the Court: The following information is provided to update you on the plans developed to conduct the November 2,2010 Elections in response to the August 27th fire that destroyed the county facility at 606 Canino housing Harris County's electronic election equipment. Early voting by personal appearance will be conducted at all 37 early voting locations utilizing the Hart InterCivic eslate voting system as has been the practice since This process will keep Harris County compliant with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and all applicable state election law. On Election Day, November 2nd, we anticipate utilizing the eslate electronic system at all polling locations. Nor mally we deploy 2 Judge's Booth Controllers (JBCs) at each polling location to ensure an uninterrupted ability to vote; due to a limited availability of JBCs, we will utilize a back-up paper ballot process to ensure the ability to vote in the event of any equipment failure at any polling location. This will keep Harris County in compliance with HAVA and applicable state election law. We will utilize Central Count to process any paper ballots cast on Election Day using escan equipment available through our eslate vendor and certain other Texas counties that use the eslate voting system. To accomplish the process outlined above we request approval of the attached "Schedule A" equipment and pric ing proposal from Hart InterCivic, vendor for the eslate voting system. We will supplement the equipment to be acquired from Hart InterCivic with certain election equipment to be loaned to Harris County from various other counties within Texas. We request authorization to enter into Interlocal Agreements with other counties for the loan of their equipment for this election. Additionally, please authorize Facilities and Property Management to work with my staff to locate and/or acquire appropriate and adequate facilities to house our Election Technology Center functions and for storage of the equip ment to be bought or borrowed for the conduct of the November 2nd Elections. Thank you for all your support and efforts in this very trying time. With your help and the help of the entire Harris County family, I am confident we will be able conduct a fair and accurate election on November 2,2010. Sincerely, Beverly B. Kaufman County Clerk Harris County, Texas Attachment BBK/km 1001 Preston, 4th Floor! P.O. BOX 1148 HOUSTON, TX /

2 Harris County, Texas HH ART I n t e r c I v t c SCHEDULE A Harris County Texas State Contract EQUIPMENT AND PRICING QUANTITY UNIT DESCRIPTION UNIT PRICE TOTAL PRICE Voting Hardware 775 Disabled Access Unit (DAU) Disabled access voting unit $3, $2,690, ,325 eslate Voting Unit $2, $6,845, Controller for eslate polling place 775 $2, $2,234, Judge's Booth Controller (JBC) equipment 75 escan Rental Precinct-based ballot scanning unit $3, $240, escan Rental, used equipment Precinct-based ballot scanning unit, used $1, $150, Wheelchair-accessible voting booth for the 775 eslate accessible voting booth DAU-equipped eslate voting unit 2,325 eslate voting booth Voting booth for the eslate voting unit 225 escan Ballot Box Rental Ballot box (tub) for use with escan 1,550 JBC Paper Rolls JBC paper rolls included with JBC 1,550 JBC Battery Pack Battery packs included with JBC escan paper rolls included with escan 450 escan Paper Rolls Rental 824 Storage caddy Storage unit for 8 voting booths $ $453, Caddy wheels Set of 4 wheels for storage caddy $ $82, Jelly switches Low-impact input switches for DAU module $ $129, Headphones Headphones for DAU module Other Hardware 3 Personal computer PC workstation for SERVO, with Roxio, WinZip, Office and Adobe installed $2, $8, Laptop computer For use with SERVO software. Roxio, WinZip, Office and Adobe installed $2, $29, Quatech Cards For use with SERVO computers 15 Crossover cables For use with SERVO computers eslate Cryptographic Module Electronic security token included with 15 (ecm) computer equipment 15 ATA card reader/writer Flash memory card reader/writer included with computer equipment Ballots I 1,425,000 Ballots Estimated 2 Sheet (4 Page Ballot 8.5"x17") $00.51 $ 726, Total Acquisition Cost j Purchase Price (does not include shipping/handling charges) $ 13,590, j Optional Extended Warranty Extended warranty for eslates, DAUs, and 2 years Optional extended warranty JBCs escan Rental (new unit - $3, each): Quantity 75 included in above price. escan Rental (used unit - $1,000,000 each). Quantity 150 included in above price. escan rental price may be applied to future escan purchase price. $ 465, Hart InterCivic 1 Pricing

3 &J) BEVERLY B. KAUFMAN county clerk HARRIS COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE NEEDS ASSESSMENT POST DESTRUCTION OF THE ELECTION TECHNOLOGY CENTER Background On the morning of Aug. 27, 2010, an early morning fire destroyed the Harris County warehouse located on 606 Canino Road known as the Election Technology Center (ETC). All the equipment used in the conduct of the early voting by personal appearance and on election day in Harris County was destroyed. Purpose This document serves as a needs assessment for the elections department related to the immediate needs of the county to administer the November 2, 2010 election in accordance with the guidelines established by state and federal government. The election office has assessed what was lost and made a determination as to what equipment, materials and supplies need to be replaced to provide Harris County voters equal access to the voting process. This report is divided into sections; Facility needs, Early Voting Equipment Needs, Election Day Equipment Needs, Election Clerk Training Needs and concludes with a recommendation. Immediate Needs Work Space Facility The ETC building housed 18 permanent employees and approximately 10 temporary employees. Aside from a storage and preparation facility, the ETC building served various functions during an election cycle: It is where the county's election staff prepared and coded the equipment during the conduct of an election. It served as a staging area for the distribution of elections equipment to every polling location. It served as the election supplies distribution center for presiding election judges prior to election day It served as an election training center. Election Technology Center-Relocation Requirements Based on the assessment of previous building functions and the number of personnel available to perform duties, to be able to conduct the work which was conducted previously, the elections department has determined that it needs a warehouse type building that meets building codes with the following elements:

4 B» BEVERLY B. KAUFMAN county clerk \r, :</ TABLE 1: Facility Requirements Square footage 30,500 square feet with high ceilings Loading Dock Standard semi truck 100 Parking - how many spaces Equipment storage space 12,500 square feet Equipment setup/routing space 6,000 Office space 4,000 square feet Other space needs Supply storage space 8,000 Phones, network cables Furniture Restrooms Security Mechanical Room/Communication Services Early Voting Equipment Needs During the early voting period for the November 2006 election in Harris County 782 pieces of equipment were allocated for 33 early voting locations, including 79 Judge Booth Control, 639 eslates and 64 disabled automated units. Since 1996, the early voting locations in Harris County have increased by 4. To be able to conduct early voting by personal appearance in a similar fashion for a similar election during the November 2, 2010, the election department estimates that the following equipment, materials and supplies are needed during early voting period at the 37 early voting by personal appearance polling locations: TABLE 2: Equipment, supplies and materials needed for early voting by personal appearance Voting Equipment Number Available Contingency Judge Booths Control eslates with booth Disabled Automated with booth Supplies and materials Laptops Printers MegSwipe Handscanner ComputerGoat SupplyGoat Phones MiFi Number Available Contingency /

5 M BEVERLY B. KAUFMAN county clerk Seals 0 tbd Election Day Equipment Needs All the Election Day equipment was destroyed by the fire at the Election Technology Center. The Election Day needs for the November 2, 2010 election have been estimated to be: TABLE 3: Equipment needs for Election Day Voting Equipment Number Available Judge Booth Control eslates voting machine w/booths Disabled automated units w/booths Contingency Election Supplies and Materials Number Available Contingency Poll Book Binders Carts Cell phones Caddies Seals 0 2, ,000 Election Clerk Training Equipment Needs In the November 2, 2010 election cycle approximately 5,000 election clerks are scheduled to work. The total includes personnel schedule to work on Election Day and during the early voting period. One of the major responsibilities of the Harris County Clerk's office is to provide training to the personnel provided by the major political parties. For election clerk trainings it is estimated that the following equipment is needed. TABLE 4: Election clerk training needs item Number Available needed 0 10 Laptops Quatec Cards Projectors manuals 0 0 Supplies Recommendation After assessing the equipment Hart Intercivic may be able to produce and other jurisdiction may be able to contribute to Harris County for Early Voting by personal appearance and Election Day, the County Clerk plans to use of eslates and the Disabled Automated (DAUs) during the early voting period, as usual. And for Election Day, the Clerk recommends the use of escan paper ballots for regular voters and DAUs for physically challenged voters. The use of the escan paper ballot system and DREs will ensure the county is compliant with state and federal voting guidelines pertaining to providing physically challenged voters the

6 0* BEVERLY B. KAUFMAN county clerk yy ability to vote independently and providing equal and fair access to the voting process to al voters on Election Day.