d. PO's/Hwy Dept, Auditor - Laserfiche WebLink

IGOVERNMENT Auditor Michael Montplaisir, CPA 701-241-5601 Treasurer Charlotte Sandvik 701-241-5611 Director of Equalization Frank Klein 701-241-5616 Box 2806 211 Ninth Street South Fargo, North Dakou 58103 FAX 701.241.5728 January 10, 2002 Board of County Commissioners Cass County Government 211 9th Street South Fargo ND 58103 Re: Purchase Order for Election Equipment Dear Commissioners: This request is part of our continuing effort to upgrade election equipment to meet new standards set by Congress. In 2002, the county purchased ten M100 scanners to try them in legislative districts 13 and 41. For 2003, we budgeted to purchase 22 scanners and in 2004, we plan to purchase 13 scanners--this may have to change to fully comply with federal standards. Our original plan was to provide scanners in each of the metropolitan precincts. Due to federal legislation passed last fall, we may have to purchase scanners and handicapped accessible equipment for all precincts. We will be researching this further before we prepare the 2004 budget. Currently, the city in which the precinct is located has covered half of the equipment costs. This will become more important as we talk about equipping all precincts with this latest technology. The equipment we are purchasing now complies with the federal requirements and utilizes the same ballot that we currently use. There are other systems that allow electronic voting, and we will have to purchase some of those to use as handicapped accessible devices; however, providing our precincts with enough of those to eliminate the paper would be cost prohibitive. We will be conducting the Fargo School Board election in June. This equipment will be used in that election to allow our election workers and our office another chance to become familiar with the equipment before 2004 elections. Sincerely, Michael Montplaisir, CPA County Auditor SUGGESTED MOTION: Move to authorize the chairman sign the purchase order for election equipment.