Jefferson County needs a new ballot counting machine, head elections officer Bonnie Ramey told the county commissioners November 14.
The current machine, purchased in January 2004, will not read ballots that have been folded, she said. That means absentee ballots must be sent out and returned in large envelopes that are getting more and more expensive and harder to find, she told the commission.
Most recently, the county paid over $6500 for enough of the large envelopes to cover about one and a half elections. A ballot counter capable of handling folded ballots should substantially reduce printing and mailing costs.
Ramey said she has enough money in her budget to cover the $53,222 cost of the new vote counter. Since the money is in the wrong line item in the budget, though, a public hearing is required before moving the funds within the budget, she said.
Plans are to use supplies on hand for the May election and then change to the new machine for subsequent elections.
The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 5, at 2 p.m. in the meeting room of the Clerk and Recorder Building.
In other business covered at the November 14 meeting, the commissioners:
• heard from Commissioner Bob Mullen about facility needs at the North Jefferson County Library and museum building in Clancy;
• noted receipt of a letter from the MDT declining to build a rest area at Boulder (See related article on front page);
• heard from Commissioner Leonard Wortman on a meeting of a Forest collaborative group (See separate article on page 5);
• agreed to spend $1500 to join Broadwater County in litigation in support of the Johnny Crow Wildlife Habitat Restoration Project. The commissioners said opponents of the project have expressed concern that it is intended to help cattle grazers rather than wildlife;
• formally appointed Doug Dodge as the DES chair;
• signed contracts for continued junk vehicle transport services;
• and awarded a bid on a Whitehall bridge project to low bidder Bullock Contracting.
