Commissioners OK $54K for electronic poll books

By Jimmy Flint Staff Writer jflint@advertiser-tribune.com Seneca County Board of Commissioners appropriated $54,000 to order electronic poll books for Seneca County Board of Elections Thursday morning. Board of elections members decided Wednesday they would choose the KnowInk-produced Poll Pad as the product for the county which will replace the old method of pen and paper poll books. The county is to order 55 of the tablets and election officials hope the new equipment can be used for the May 2 election. County administrator Stacy Wilson said the two bids the county received Tuesday for the board of elections renovation project, to move the office next door in the County Services Building, are being reviewed by the project's engineer, Encompass Engineers. She said the board hopes to choose a contractor at its next meeting March 21. Charles Construction of Findlay and Studer-Obringer of New Washington submitted bids for the project. Wilson said Charles Construction's base bid was about $140,500 while the base bid from Studer-Obringer was about $126,000. The project has five alternates: a bathroom upgrade, a kitchenette, work on the former space of the board of elections which is to host Seneca Regional Planning Commission, LED lighting upgrades and an upgrade to the heating and cooling system. Any of the alternates could be kept or removed. The renovation budget for the project is about $250,000.