In search for new voting machines, Louisiana may need to start over

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office may have to begin anew with its goal of procuring nearly 20,000 new voting machines after the confirmation of the cancelation of a $95 million award to Dominion Voting Systems.

In August, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced that Dominion Voting Systems was awarded the contract to supply the state with new voting machines before the 2020 presidential election. However, the contract was canceled by Chief Procurement Officer Paula Tregre after one of the losing bidders, Elections Systems and Software, objected to the contracting process, arguing that the request for proposals included specific requirements that only Dominion’s equipment could meet.

Dominion, who filed an appeal that was later rejected, is still deciding whether to sue the state over losing the contract. The company has until December 12 to file a suit, otherwise the entire bidding process might have to start over. Regardless of the actions taken, it looks like the state’s effort to replace the machines will be stalled, meaning the upcoming 2019 state elections and the 2020 presidential election will be run on what the state currently has.

While this may be the case, the coming days may see some significant events for Louisiana, and for vendors working in this market, as an entirely new procurement may be conducted for these machines.

Source: StateScoop