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Elections Department recommending the Board:
1) Approve and authorize the Registrar of Voters to sign agreement 4209 with the Opex Corporation for the purchase of two Opex M72 extractors, printers and envelope catchers, installation and training, and one year of equipment service/maintenance for a total of $76,858;
2) Approve and authorize the addition of the M72 extractors to the Fixed Asset list for the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Board approved Recommended Budget; and
3) Approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent, or designee, to execute a purchase order for said purchase and further documents relating to agreement 4209, including amendments that do not increase the maximum dollar amount or term of the Agreement, and contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management.
FUNDING: 75% Funding with Prop 41 - 25% Funding with HAVA 301.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The County of El Dorado Elections Department is responsible for running transparent, open, thorough, and accurate elections for the voters of El Dorado County. A critical component of this responsibility is the efficient, thorough, and auditable receipt of mail ballots from voters.
The department currently mails approximately 98,000 ballots to voters. With the move to vote centers, approved by the board on April 23, 2019 (Legistar 19-0633), all registered voters in the County will be mailed a ballot, which is expected to be close to 124,000 in 2020. The expected return for the Presidential General Election is 75% which would mean approximately 80,600 ballots returned by mail and the remainder at Vote Centers.
The current process in the department is to have one to two staff slice envelopes using a small slitter. After enough envelopes have been slit open, approximately twelve (12) temporary extra help staff begin opening the envelopes and hand extracting ballots. This manual process requires extensive time to properly remove and for each ballot and is extremely labor and time intensive wi...
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