Clerk’s office plans a new website

The clerk’s office plans to establish a new website for voters.

Jay County Commissioners OK’d a $20,000 grant application and approved a contract with website developer An Island on Monday to create a site for election data.

The funding would come from Indiana’s portion of the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Election Security Grants program. County clerk Jon Eads noted the Indiana Secretary of State’s office recently reached out to him about the opportunity.

“We’ve had several voters request something like this,” said Eads.

Jay County’s new cloud-based website will provide an election update system for results as they come in as well as information about candidates, such as their autobiographies. It will be accessible via smart devices or computers and allow users to sign up for text message notifications to be alerted as results are filed.

Eads anticipates the website could be ready to use by the May primary.

An Island, a Tell City-based developer, will design the site. (Formed in 2007, the privately owned business started as Enterprise Consulting Company.) It is currently working with the Association of the Clerks of Circuit Courts of Indiana to create its new website.

The website will cost the county about $7,000 annually to maintain.

Eads explained to commissioners Monday he had not initially applied for the grant, pointing out the county updated all of its election supplies recently. Last year, the county purchased 30 voter verifiable paper audit trail machines and 50 voting machines from Microvote Corporation for about $140,000. (Its previous machines dated back to 2004.) The state — it required all polls to have the voter verifiable paper audit trail machines by 2024 — had already purchased 20 of those devices for Jay County and contributed an additional $76,750 toward the 2023 purchase.

Created in 2018, the Federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Election Security Grants aim to provide “states with additional resources to improve the administration of elections for federal office, including to enhance technology and make certain election security improvements,” according to its website. 

Approximately $2 million of the program’s funding is being administered through the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office for Indiana counties, according to an August press release from the department. The office’s goal is to use the dollars for local election improvement efforts, the press release says.

“Since I took office, I’ve made a commitment to county clerks and election administrators to provide them with the tools and resources they need,” said Morales in the press release. “This is an effort to deliver on that promise. We are looking forward to innovative proposals from county officials to help improve elections at the local level and make the Hoosier state stronger.”

Projects eligible for grant dollars included voter education and outreach, poll worker recruitment and training, cybersecurity efforts, accessibility for disabled voters, and other election administration or voting initiatives.

Morales’ office contacted Eads about leftover funding from the program and offered to award Jay County $20,000 to build a website for election information, explained Eads.

Four other counties — Perry, Dubois, Putnam and Spencer counties — also received funding from the grant to launch similar websites with the grant dollars.