At Monday’s meeting, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the purchase of over $100,000 in new ballot-counting machines for the upcoming November midterm elections. According to Carroll County Auditor Kourtney Payer, the Unisyn Voting Solutions machines are supplied through Adkins Election Services and are very similar to the ones the county has been using for over a decade. Payer says this purchase is necessary, as the current machines are more than 10 years old.

The purchase includes 15 Freedom Vote Scan machines with ballot boxes at $5,165 per unit, 14 Freedom Vote Scanner ballot marking devices for $3,115 per unit, and implementation and software training for a total purchase price of $112,041. The board also approved an annual maintenance agreement with the distributors for $5,675 per year. Payer expects the machines to be delivered before Election Day on Nov. 8, but they are ready for any unexpected delays.

Initially, this purchase was scheduled to occur in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, but it was not finalized before the current fiscal year began. Payer notes the money budgeted for the machines was not spent elsewhere, but the supervisors will need to approve a budget amendment later for the purchase. The first day to request absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 election was last week. Early voting begins in just over a month on Wednesday, Oct. 19.