PrintElect account manager Tom Janyssek, left, and President Owen Andrews deliver a presentation at the Lenoir County Board of Elections Thursday. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News

By Junious Smith III

The deadline for new equipment is approaching rapidly for the Lenoir County Board of Elections.

The BOE is mandated by the state to have new equipment running by Dec. 1, prompting the department to look at three options company-wise — PrintElect, Hart Intercivic and Clear Ballot.

“We’re starting to run out of time and we want to make a good decision wherever we go,” Lenoir County Board of Education director Dana King said. “We have to make our decision in October so we’ll have enough time to test out the equipment in November.”

PrintElect made its pitch Thursday, giving a demonstration of its new equipment at the BOE Office. The New Bern-based organization has serviced Lenoir County since 2006 and is the lone state representative of the options — Clear Ballot is based out of Boston and Hart Intercivic’s headquarters is in Austin.  

“Our new suite of equipment that we have for Lenoir County is a paper-based solution, and we’re hoping Lenoir will upgrade to that and continue doing business with ESNS,” PrintElect President Owen Andrews said. “We’re local — PrintElect is based in New Bern, we have 56 election professionals there, have a Raleigh office with 26 people and we’re strategically based in North Carolina which gives us a bit of an advantage.”

Lenoir County BOE Vice-Chairman Courtney Patterson said PrintElect made a strong pitch, and he’s interested in listening to the others in the near future.

“I felt good about the meeting with PrintElect,” Patterson said. “We’re inviting the other two entities to come and deliver their pitch — it’s an open process and we need to be open-minded about the offers provided. Then, the Board of Commissioners will make a decision based on what we’ve presented to them and hopefully, they’ll agree.”

The new equipment won’t be in full use for the upcoming election, which includes the Kinston City Council, La Grange Mayor and La Grange Board of Commissioners. Early voting starts Oct. 16 at Teachers Memorial Gym and the Board of Elections Meeting Room, with four days at the La Grange Community Building starting Oct. 29. Election Day takes place Nov. 8.