Whitley County getting $90k grant to help pay for voting equipment

Thanks to the Kentucky Board of Elections, Whitley County is getting back about one-third of its cost to purchase new voting equipment earlier this year.

The Board of Elections announced Aug. 16 that it had voted to allocate $630,000 to 11 counties for upgrading voting equipment to paper-ballot-based, auditable machines.

Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis noted that the grant funding will partially reimburse the county for the cost of the new voting machines, which went into use during this year’s May Primary Election.

“The new voting machines cost substantially more than what was refunded back to us. They gave us back $2,500 per precinct, which is a total of $90,000 as a reimbursement, which is a big chunk of money,” Willis said.

The reimbursement will go to the Whitley County Fiscal Court, which spent a little over $300,000 total on the new voting equipment.

“At the time we needed to purchase those voting machines, we weren’t for sure we would be getting back any reimbursement. There was money set aside for that due to counties not having new voting equipment in so long. The old voting equipment was outdated and we were unable to get parts for it,” Willis explained. “We spoke with Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. and he agreed we couldn’t allow the voting machines to go down with no replacement parts.”

Willis said she was very pleased with how the new machines operated in May noting the new machines are both voter friendly and easy to roll into position.

“I am just glad we were able to purchase those new machines,” Willis said.

Since obtaining a federal grant in 2020, the Kentucky Board of Elections has allocated nearly $3.5 million in federal funds to Kentucky counties for upgrading their voting machines.

During the Whitley County Fiscal Court’s Aug. 16 meeting, the fiscal court declared the old voting machines as surplus property that will be disposed of by Harp Enterprises, which is the vendor that supplies and maintains the county’s voting equipment.