Jasper County election office reviews demonstration of secure voting-cabinet ahead of June primary

A vendor demonstration at the Jasper County Board of Registration and Elections meeting on May 20 showed a lockable, portable cabinet meant to store and transport voting equipment, and board members discussed using a loaned unit for the June primary and buying additional cabinets later.

Tom Fridaleck, who identified himself as a long-time partner to election offices in the region, introduced the vendor’s senior sales manager, Pete Stewart, who led the product demonstration. Stewart described the unit as built from “16 gauge steel” and said “they’re tanks, basically,” emphasizing the cabinet’s durability and security for transporting sensitive equipment.

The cabinet is sized to hold multiple ballot-marking devices and a DS300 tabulator for transport; an internal outlet strip allows the county to charge several devices at once. Stewart said the design reduces setup needs at polling locations by eliminating the need for folding tables and centralizing storage, and that the cabinets lock and provide space for official seals to show tampering evidence.

Board members asked how ballots printed by ballot-marking devices are handled and whether the DS300 would be used inside the cabinet. The vendor explained that ballots still print on the BMD and are then placed into the DS300 as usual; the DS300 is typically transported in the cabinet and staged near the exit rather than placed inside for voting.

Director (speaker 3) told the board the county could trial the unit: “If I get a PO to get this one right now, it will probably be in my office,” and said the county has budgeted for further purchases in the next fiscal year but would check current funds to see whether one or two units could be acquired before early voting. The director said the vendor would send a detailed price sheet and a breakdown of quantity discounts to the director for county review.

No formal procurement vote took place at the meeting. The board directed staff to review the vendor’s pricing sheet, check available funds with finance, and consider a purchase order so a loaned unit could be staged for early voting and voter testing.

Next steps: the vendor will send pricing details to the director; the director will check finance for immediate purchase options and circulate the price information by email to the board for a potential expedited decision prior to early voting.