Politics & Government

St. Charles County Will Spend $1.2 Million on 260 New Voting Machines

Councilman Joe Cronin says the purchase isn't prudent, but the rest of the council members approved new machines.

St. Charles County will spend $1.2 million on new voting machines, but one county councilman thinks they would be better off keeping the old machines.

The County Council voted 4-1 on Monday to approve the purchase of 260 optical scan machines that read paper ballots, two for each of 121 precincts and 18 emergency backups. Half of the machines are disability-capable.

The bill still needs to be signed by County Executive Steve Ehlmann. If he vetoes the bill, it could be overridden by a five-vote council majority. Councilman Terry Hollander had stepped out of the room and was unavailable during Monday's roll call vote.

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Rich Chrismer, the St. Charles County Election Authority director, said he had budgeted money in the last six years to pay for the new machines.

“I planned ahead. We have the money,” he told the council. “I do have a federal grant that will allow me to collect $129,000 when I buy the new machines, so now (the overall cost) is closer to $1 million.”

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However, Councilman Joe Cronin said the county would be better off using the old machines and using the money to operate the machines.

He said Chrismer had erroneously stated in an stltoday.com article that parts are not available to repair and maintain the old machines. He read a letter from Dominion Voting Systems stating that they do supply parts and license software for the machines.

Chrismer said the new machines from Henry M. Adkins and Son has superior technology to the old machines. The Election Authority director said that when the county bought the older machines in 2004, the technology was 10 years old.

However, Cronin said the new machines are not new technology either.

“The new machines, per the bid, are based on 2008 technology,” Cronin wrote in an email. “Mr. Chrismer has publicly stated that a mistake was made with the purchase of the old machines in that their technology was 10 years old when that purchase was made.”

Councilman Joe Brazil, R-District 2, said he isn’t sure he would support the purchase if Chrismer were a department head rather than an elected official.

“But just like we don’t tell (Sheriff Tom Neer) what type of handguns or police cars to buy, I don’t think we should tell Rich what type of election equipment to buy,” Brazil said. “I guess if Rich makes a bad decision, then he just won’t get re-elected. I’m not sure if he needs it or not, but he’s saved his money and he says we need it.”

Cronin said the money doesn’t belong to Chrismer, but to taxpayers. He said the funds could be used for other things.

“The county provides money for his employees," Cronin said. "He also charges municipalities and political jurisdictions to administer elections. It’s not his money. It’s our money. We could fund his department with less money and use the ”


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