Voting system $ on way (11/17/04)

Jay County should be receiving funds by the end of the week to repay a little more than half of the cost of the county’s new push-button electronic voting system.

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced the release of more than $7.5 million in funding from the federal Help America Vote Act — including two checks totaling $112,474 headed to Jay County.

Jay County clerk Jane Ann Runyon said Tuesday the money should arrive by Friday.

Earlier this week, Runyon sent a check for $213,442 to MicroVote General Corp. for the 50 new machines and related hardware and software that replaced the county’s former punch card system.

Runyon expects that the county will eventually be reimbursed the rest of the cost of the new voting system.

A total of $13.7 million has been distributed to Indiana counties this year to help pay for replacement of outdated level and punch card voting systems.

Rokita personally delivered three of the checks Monday to (Continued on page 5)

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Vanderburgh, Perry and Dubois counties. Other counties receiving reimbursements are: Blackford, Brown, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Decatur, DeKalb, Grant, Hamilton, Hendricks, Henry, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Jefferson, Knox, Marshall, Miami, Monroe, Pulaski, Putnam, Rush, Starke, Steuben, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Wabash, Wayne, Wells and Whitley.

The Help America Vote Act was passed in response to the 2000 presidential election. HAVA mandates that punch card and lever machine voting systems be replaced throughout the country by Jan. 1, 2006.[[In-content Ad]]