Election integrity was a major topic of discussion at Tuesday’s Davison County Commission meeting. The agenda item was renewal of a contract with ES & S, who supplies the election machines for Davison County. Davison County Auditor Sue Kiepke says the county has used the company for years and has had no trouble with them.
A few residents expressed concern about ES & S including Jessica Pollema, a resident of Lincoln County. “40 pages of fraud. 40 pages of corruption document on ES & S alone. Pay-for-play schemes, violations, and much more corruption by ES & S,” Pollema told the commission.
Davison County resident Sonja VanErdewyk asked the council to get more information before making a decision. “You cannot make a decision today on this in right minds knowing all the information we told you,” she said. “If we decide to go with this system, then we are complicit in the fraud.”
Davison County Commissioner Randy Reider touted the security of elections in Davison County, saying “we account for every ballot. Auditor Kiepke maintains the chain of custody. There’s no Florida issue where you find 8,000 ballots in the car” that were not counted.
The Davison County Commission voted 3-2 in favor of renewing the contract with ES & S.