The Dallas County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved a $7.6 million contract with St. Louis-based KNOWiNK to buy 4,500 poll pad devices for voter check-in and licensing and support services for two years.
The vendor will replace Election System & Software’s electronic pollbooks, which malfunctioned during the Nov. 5 election and resulted in nearly 4,000 voters casting ballots tied to precincts where they did not live.
As a result of the problems, the Texas Secretary of State in December decertified that version of ES&S’ pollbook software, which was used in 66 jurisdictions. The company will present an updated version to the state in early March, which an ES&S spokesperson said resolves the issues.
But Dallas County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia said if ES&S’ updated pollbooks fail state certification next month, it will be too late to secure another vendor, leaving the county without critical equipment required to run its May 3 elections.
It’s a risk commissioners were not willing to take.
“We can’t promise you they’ll get certified,” Garcia told the Commissioners Court on Tuesday. “If that day the answer is oops, they didn’t pass, we’re dead.”
Pollbooks are used to verify voters’ identity, check their registration and assign correct ballot types based on their residency — a job that would be unfeasible by hand in a jurisdiction as large as Dallas County, Garcia said.
The new contract comes at a cost, which will be partially deferred by state grants.
If the county extends this initial two-year contract, a five-year agreement for services with KNOWiNK could cost $10.5 million — $1.8 million more than what the county has paid ES&S over the past five years, Garcia said. But accounting for inflation, that increase is essentially voided, Garcia said.
The county bought 4,500 pollbooks from ES&S around January 2020 and has paid the company $8.6 million since 2019 for the devices, licensing and support, Garcia told the court. Because pollbooks have a shelf life of about a decade, Garcia said in an interview that the county is replacing the devices roughly five years early.
As a result of ES&S’ pollbooks being decertified, the state created a grant program to reimburse counties for 80% of the costs to replace the devices, according to Alicia Pierce, spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State. She could not confirm how many of the 66 counties that used ES&S’ now decertified pollbooks are seeking to replace them with another vendor or are banking on the company getting its new software certified in March.
The grant will cover $3.5 million of the $4.4 million cost to replace the 3,152 devices used in November, Garcia said. The remainder will come from another state elections grant already in hand and money budgeted for the now-halted ES&S contract, he said.
The KNOWiNK poll pads are used in about 115 counties, including Tarrant, according to data provided by the secretary of state.
In its proposal, the company stated its poll pads are in 29 states, which amounted to 1 out of every four in-person voter check-ins throughout the November presidential election.
The Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to approve the KNOWiNK contract with Commissioner John Wiley Price in opposition. He did not respond to a question to confirm why he voted no, but during the court’s discussion, Price questioned Garcia about the unsuccessful bidder — Votec Corporation.
Dallas County’s problems began on the first day of early voting in October when electronic pollbooks showed frozen screens as poll workers tried to check in voters. The devices were actually processing their requests but did not show that was the case, ES&S representatives later confirmed.
In response to the delay, poll workers repeatedly tapped screens, leading to multiple ballots for that voter being queued up for printing. As a result, when subsequent voters were checked in, they received the ballot type for the precinct corresponding to the person in front of them.
Garcia said no race was close enough for the outcome to have been influenced by the incorrect ballots.
ES&S will remain Dallas County’s vendor for voting tabulation machines, which did not experience any problems in the fall election. In a statement, spokesperson Katina Granger said the company expects to submit its updated pollbook product to the state for certification on March 3.
“ES&S is obviously disappointed with the county’s decision, but we take full responsibility for the usability of our product,” Granger said, adding that the company is “working diligently” with the state and customers to ensure that its equipment would perform as expected in elections.
Asked if the county is eligible for any refund for the $6 million pollbooks purchased in 2020, Granger said, “ES&S will work directly with Dallas County regarding their outstanding contract.”
Garcia said KNOWiNK has committed to having a representative on site to help with troubleshooting and implementation through the May 3 election. He said pollworker training with the devices will begin in March and early voting begins April 22.
Commissioner Elba Garcia pressed the elections administrator to ensure he felt that the evaluation committee chose the most reliable company.
“I think this was looked at from all critical angles,” he responded. “I feel comfortable with what we have in front of you.”
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