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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.
A few
more 1998-2022
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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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Published Prices |
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Analyze ballot images |
$ 5,000 |
25,000 |
$0.20 |
$5k analysis includes first 25k sheets. Extra sheets at $0.07 per sheet.
https://auditengine.org/price/ $5k analysis plus $5k re-scan includes first 10k sheets. Extra sheets
at $0.22 per sheet ($0.07 plus $0.15) |
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Re-scan & analyze |
$ 10,000 |
10,000 |
$1.00 |
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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: “Results Verification
2021.09.27” 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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Florida, Lake County |
May 2022 Clear Ballot contract
without cost pages: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24630454-cb-lake2022
has clause letting Clear Ballot company conduct audits of Lake County for
compliance, not vice versa (which is probably covered in state law). All
products are as is, without warranty or liability: 5. DISCLAIMERS Except as specifically provided in this
agreement, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Clear
Ballot products are provided to customer “as is” with all faults, and without
warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law,
Clear Ballot expressly disclaims all warranties, express, implied or
statutory, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability, quality of information, quiet enjoyment, and fitness for a
particular purpose. Clear Ballot does not warrant that the Clear Ballot
products will meet customer's requirements or that the operation of the Clear
Ballot products will be uninterrupted or error-free. Clear Ballot does not
warrant or make any representation regarding the use or the results of the
use of the Clear Ballot products in teams of their correctness, accuracy,
quality, reliability, appropriateness for a particular task or application or
otherwise. No oral or written information or advice given by Clear Ballot or
Clear Ballot’s authorized representatives shall create a warranty or in any
way increase the scope of the warranties provided in this agreement (if
any)... 8. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY AND ACTIONS To the maximum extent permitted by
applicable law, neither party will be liable to the other for special
indirect, incidental, consequential or exemplary damages, including without
limitation loss of profit and costs, loss of business, loss of savings, loss
of data, or loss of goodwill in connection with the performance of the Clear
Ballot products, or the performance of any other obligations under this
agreement, even if it is aware of the possibility of the occurrence of such
damages... The limitations of liability set forth herein shall not apply to
any claim or damage for which liability cannot be excluded by law... |
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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. |
https://docs.voting.works/arlo Comments & questions on Arlo
2022-07-11 http://votewell.net/ArloRLATransparency.pdf
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Arlo for
California: contract for 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 Virginia did not
provide any documents describing the "Added security requirements",
saying they were "Vendor proprietary
information" |
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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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