Election System Costs
Contents:
Report on costs for
all makers of election equipment in the US: Price of
Voting, 2021
Report on structure
of the election equipment industry in the US: Business
of Voting, 2017
Large collection
of contracts from 40 states 1992-2008 for election equipment & support
collected by Dr. Joseph Lorenzo Hall with
Table of
Contents by county, date & vendor, and Readme
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Costs
to reanalyze BALLOT IMAGES Independent software to tally ballot images is available from:
·
Trachtenberg,
Mitch (2013) Democracy Counts
now used at https://electionstransparencyproject.com/news/
Free under open source license. It reads HART Intercivic
ballot formats in Humboldt County, CA, and would need a skilled programmer to
generalize it.
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updated 12/7/2022 |
Contract Cost per Election (excludes government staff
cost) |
Number of ballot sheets in elections shown |
Cost
per ballot sheet |
Sources. The numbers are also in a spreadsheet. |
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AuditEngine |
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Oregon, Clackamas County 2022 Primary |
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Analyze ballot
images |
$ 20,000 |
117,000 |
$0.17 |
Proposal https://copswiki.org/Common/M1985I
included investigation into reasons for failures in reading the style
barcodes |
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Re-scan &
analyze |
$ 30,000 |
117,000 |
$0.26 |
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Clear Ballot, sole source contracts to
analyze existing ballot images on contractor's equipment; no fresh scan |
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Maryland |
Maryland 2019-2022 Scope
of Work, "cost of the audit does not increase based on
the number of ballots" Costs: pp.158-59 of bpw.maryland.gov/MeetingDocs/2020-Dec-02-Agenda.pdf Sole source justification and price analysis required by BPW Number of ballots: elections.maryland.gov/elections/2020/index.html
2022 ballots based on 2018, since only 2% total
population growth in 4 years https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MDPOP Reports: https://maryland.clearballot.com/ As is, no warranty of accurate results; Clear Ballot
shows discrepancies on individual ballots; provides portal for county to
adjudicate ballot interpretations. State or counties provide pdf of each
ballot style & full results, images & CVRs. |
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2020 special
primary |
$ 45,063 |
84,298 |
$0.53 |
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2020 special
general |
$ 45,063 |
151,718 |
$0.30 |
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2022 primary |
$ 435,050 |
872,305 |
$0.50 |
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2020 primary |
$ 395,500 |
1,763,281 |
$0.22 |
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2022 general |
$ 435,050 |
2,335,248 |
$0.19 |
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2020 general |
$ 395,500 |
3,037,030 |
$0.13 |
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2020-2022 totals |
$1,751,226 |
8,243,880 |
$0.21 |
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Maryland 2016
estimate |
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$0.09 |
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Colorado, Montrose County 2020 general |
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Base Fee (in
addition to per-ballot fee) |
$ 12,200 |
25,160 |
$0.48 |
Source:
9/27/21 Order As is, no
warranty of accurate results; Clear Ballot shows discrepancies on individual
ballots; provides portal for county to adjudicate ballot interpretations;
helpdesk during elections 7-11, unlimited support; always phone & email
response within 24h; no "worker without authorization"; Colorado
can inspect onsite. County provides pdf of each ballot style & full
results, images & CVRs. |
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Fee based on
number of ballots |
$ 6,290 |
25,160 |
$0.25 |
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Total |
$ 18,490 |
25,160 |
$0.73 |
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Clear Ballot, sole source contracts to buy equipment to
re-scan & analyze |
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New York, pricing for 100,000 registered voters |
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1st year: Buy 2 small scanner packages & server & 2 days
training, assume 12 year life, 24 elections (3 Presidential elections) |
$ 56,900 |
1,200,000 total
12 years, 24 elections, 50% avg turnout |
$0.09 |
2021-2026 online.ogs.ny.gov/purchase/spg/pdfdocs/2230023198PL_ClearBallot.xlsx and online.ogs.ny.gov/purchase/spg/pdfdocs/2230023198Contractorinfo.pdf
and online.ogs.ny.gov/purchase/spg/awards/2230023198CAN.HTM Note: Costs per ballot drop with more ballots. Details are in the spreadsheet. Terms:p.31:
Five sets of manuals, not confidential; 5-year guarantee. P.35 NY gets access
to security logs upon request. Pp.28-29 require onsite support within 24
hours of call & equipment replacement if needed in 48 hours, from 30 days
before to 15 days after election day. P33. Notify security incidents within
48h, data breaches ASAP within 24h. |
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Later year: support, license, warranty & 2 days training |
$ 67,260 |
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Total 12 years |
$ 796,760 |
1,200,000 |
$0.33 |
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12 yrs non-variable costs (mostly license) |
$ 215,960 |
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Varying cost per ballot |
$ 0.24 |
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Florida, Miami-Dade |
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Buy 1 server, 16 scanners & 10 days training, assume 12 year life
(3 Presidential elections) |
$879,387 |
8,790,828 total
12 years |
$0.10 |
Costs: http://votewell.net/miami2022cost.pdf Contract: http://votewell.net/miami2022terms.pdf
As is, no warranty of accurate results; Clear Ballot can audit Miami's
facilities with "reasonable advance notice" Details are in the spreadsheet. |
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Annual maintenance/year (free 1st yr) |
$163,536 |
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Total 12 years |
$2,678,283 |
8,790,828 |
$0.30 |
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RISK-LIMITING AUDITS |
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Arlo software is freely available, open source, to run on customer computers
without support. Following contracts are for support and running on VotingWorks computers, online. |
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Arlo for
California: contract to support to counties for 11 months, for as many contests
& ballots as the counties wish. Counties do their own data entry: |
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Implementation of Arlo online |
$22,894 |
http://votewell.net/arloca.pdf
58 counties, 21,885,545 registered voters 9/9/22, so $0.0010/registered voter Contract requires monthly
vulnerability assessments (though only 2 audits/year), remediate in 5 days,
inspect with "advance written request",
encryption, CA & "industry
standards and guidelines", "allow the State reasonable access to
security logs, latency statistics, and other related security data",
user acceptance testing. |
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Custom Development for CA |
$1,221 |
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Training |
$91,572 |
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Total |
$115,687 |
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Arlo for Georgia: contract to support to state & counties for 12 months. Counties do
their own data entry. |
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Software hosting & support |
$54,258 ($0.0075/registered voter) |
http://votewell.net/arloga.pdf
159 counties, 7,234,431 registered voters Contract shows price breakdown: $500 per training
webinar, $1,500 per staff day of phone & email support, $2,500 per staff
day onsite support https://coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com/d-s5ef43560ff7c4ac9911004ba8765501c Has audit instructions on pp.18-27 & 74; training
slides on pp.29-72; critiques on pp.3-13, 79-81, 83-85. |
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Custom Development for GA |
$15,000 |
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Training |
$4,000 |
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Support: phone, email & onsite |
$94,500 |
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Total |
$167,758 |
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Arlo for
Pennsylvania: contract to support to state & counties for 12 months. Counties do
their own data entry. |
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Software hosting |
$70,390 |
http://votewell.net/arlopa.pdf
67 counties, 8,872,968 registered voters, so $0.0079/registered voter Contract requires annual 3rd party
vulnerability assessment, SOC
reports & corrective action plan 1½ months after findings (timing
relative to audits not set), allows state inspections "within at least
three (3) business days' notice" (PA precedent may clarify whether this
means more or less than 3 days notice), encryption,
"industry standards", "best practices", background
checks; also addresses liability. Chain of custody assessed in Bucks,
Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery, Philadelphia. Contract provides
sample selection & expansion, though policy
is to use existing sample & no expansion |
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Training & support |
$26,500 |
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Assess chain of custody & VBM |
$45,000 |
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Total |
$141,890 |
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Arlo for Virginia:
contract to support to state & counties for 12 months. Counties do
their own data entry. |
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Software hosting & support |
$45,387 ($0.0075/registered voter) |
http://votewell.net/arlova.pdf
133 counties & independent cities, 6,051,629 registered voters Documents received do not describe the
security requirements. |
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Added security requirements |
$15,000 |
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3-month extension |
$11,347 |
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Total per year |
$60,387 |
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HAND COUNTS |
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Staff Minutes per Contest |
Number of Ballots, 10 Contests per Ballot |
Number of Staff Assigned |
Elapsed Hours |
Sources at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Time_for_hand_counts.png
Tally sheet designs are at http://www.votewell.net/tally.htm
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0.10 |
100,000 |
60 |
28 |
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0.33 |
100,000 |
180 |
31 |
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1.00 |
100,000 |
300 |
56 |
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