RALEIGH -- Wake County commissioners want a better deal than the one offered by the company that has the voting-machine franchise in every North Carolina county.
Election Systems & Software, represented in North Carolina by New Bern-based Printelect, became the state's sole supplier in 2006.
The company asked Wake to pay $170,000 a year in a five-year contract, or $213,000 for a single year, Poucher said.
Instead, county attorney Scott Warren is preparing a proposal under which Wake would pay between $50,000 and $70,000annually, officials said.
Wake County commissioners asked staff to approach state legislators and the state board of elections about making whatever changes are needed to allow the local boards of elections to make the most cost-efficient provisions for maintaining machines.
In another step in a long-discussed effort, commissioners agreed to join with Durham County in a new managed-careorganization to work with people with behavioral health problems in both counties.