Municipal Elections using County equipment

["Sue Page" <spdiebold@earthlink.net>]

Question from Maryland:

I want to use Diebold's experience in managing and programming municipal
elections to guide the drafting of these procedures.  Our principle issue is
how will the managment of these elections be coordinated between the
counties, the municipalities, and Diebold.  The municipalities principle
issue is how will they pay for the programming of the ballot, training of
election judges, and transportation of voting equipment.

I think it is both in SBE and Diebold's best interest if the municipalities
use Diebold voting units for their elections.  Currently, I think we're a
long way from that goal.

I'm hoping I could talk to someone at Diebold or get an e-mail reply to the
following questions:

In counties using Diebold voting units, how are the municipal elections
coordinated between the counties, municipalities, and Diebold?  In other
words, the GEMS server is in the county offices, so how much of the process
includes county space, services, supervision?  Is the initial request for
Diebold support processed through the counties or throught the
municipalities?  how is judges training coordinated?  Invoicing directly to
the municipalities?

Are the voting units transported by the same contractor for both the county
and municipal elections?

Do you have a sense of how municipalities in other counties are able to
afford the costs for programming, training, and transportation (all new
costs for our municipalities)?

What are the lessons learned in your past support of municipal elections,
i.e. what pitfalls should SBE avoid as we draft our procedures?

I look forwared to your reply.

Thanks,
Ben

Ben Lambert
Administrative Assistant
Maryland State Board of Elections
(410) 269-2868
blambert@elections.state.md.us