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Jasper County purchases hardware to print absentee ballots in-house
Aug. 19—The Jasper County Auditor's Office will be obtaining new hardware to print off absentee ballots in-house during elections rather than ordering them out of state.
Supervisors approved the new piece of hardware called "Ballot on Demand" for a total of $8,825, which includes a warranty license, maintenance and support fees. Jasper County Auditor Jenna Jennings said the hardware would only print absentee ballots, which is what many other offices do around the state.
Typically, the County Auditor's Office has ballots printed and shipped directly from Omaha. Election Day ballots will still be printed and shipped this way. At the last general election, Jennings said about 27,500 ballots were ordered at a cost of 27 cents each. Coupled with other fees, that totals to about $9,400.
"We think we can cut the costs in about half with every election that we are printing our own," Jennings said. "We think it also would be nice to have that as a safeguard if we get low on our stock. And we're always trying to hit that fine line of getting as close to zero left in the office at the end of the day."
But the Jasper County Auditor's Office also wants to make sure it has enough in case more citizens show up to vote. Jennings argued the more than $8,000 price tag of the hardware will pay for itself over time. She said the auditor's office went through 8,237 absentee ballots during the 2024 election.
"We're seeing an uptick in absentee voters as we continue to go through the years," Jennings said.
Election Systems & Software's Ballot on Demand system includes a printer, laptop and BOD software. According to the company's website, the system automates and streamlines ballot production and distribution, offering flexible options for on-demand ballot printing needs.
Security features include a physical and system access controls, audit logs, encryption, validation and digital signature and system application controls.
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