County to receive new election equipment

St. Joseph County Clerk Lindsay Oswald said a long-awaited solution to improving the efficiency of election night is less than two months from reality.
Oswald said the state of Michigan this week placed its order for St. Joseph County’s new election equipment. She said the new tabulators were ordered from Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems Inc.
The state covered the $262,000 cost for St. Joseph County using leftover funds from the “Help America Vote” act of 2002, she noted.
Oswald said the new equipment will actually be more of a benefit to her and her clerk peers at the city, village and township levels. For example, she said there will be fewer equipment failures at the polls on election day.
Current tabulators are out of date, some pieces of equipment are worn and finding replacement parts can be a challenge, she said.
The new equipment is planned to be used in one county entity later this year, as Three Rivers in November will stage a general election for its city commission.