Ennis putting out for new election equipment bids in October

By Sheila Harris sheilaharrisads@gmail.com

While the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been reaching out to Missouri election officials requesting access to voting equipment used in the 2020 presidential election, Barry County Clerk Joyce Ennis said she has yet to be contacted.

According to a September 2 article in The Missouri Independent, a memo produced by the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities stated that at least two county clerks have been contacted in recent weeks by Andrew McCoy “Mac” Warner, a DOJ official.

Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis and McDonald County Clerk Jessica Cole received requests that they allow the DOJ to “access, physically inspect and perhaps take physical custody” of their election equipment,” The Independent said.

In an interview with The Independent, Davis said he informed the DOJ his office purchased new equipment and no longer has the machines used in the 2020 election. But even if he had those machines, Davis said it would be illegal for him to allow anyone access to them. 

“Absolutely not,” he said. “The laws prohibit us from allowing anybody to touch our equipment.”

According to The Independent, in a statement included in the memo, Cole said custody, maintenance, preparation, testing and storage of election equipment are the responsibility of the local election authority. Allowing unauthorized access, she said, is a crime. 

“These safeguards exist to protect the security, accuracy and integrity of our elections,” she said. 

Both Jasper and McDonald Counties use voting equipment made by Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion systems were in the spotlight after the November 2020 election, when the company brought a defamation suit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., for falsely accusing Dominion of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. According to NPR, a settlement agreement was reached between the two companies in April 2023, just as the case was being prepared for trial. Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle out of court.

“Barry County uses Unisyn voting equipment,” Joyce Ennis said.

Ennis does say she is looking to upgrade her voting equipment prior to the next election.

“We’ll be putting out bids for new equipment in late October,” she said.

Ennis says that, in addition to the accuracy her office already experiences with Unisyn, she’ll be looking for ease of use: specifically, how easy it will be to generate reports.