The Board of Public Works approved a multimillion-dollar contract Wednesday for a new voting system for the 2028 election, despite objections from critics that the system lacks some state and federal certifications.
The board — with Comptroller Brooke Lierman absent Wednesday — voted to approve a nearly $85 million base contract with Election Systems and Software for a new voting system.
The contract approved by the two remaining board members, Gov. Wes Moore and state Treasurer Dereck Davis, calls for Omaha-based ES&S to be paid nearly $85 million for an initial five-year term, with two optional two-year renewals that could bring the total contract to nine years and more than $109 million.
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Maryland State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis told the board that the time has come to replace the state’s current system, which is more than a decade old.
“They no longer manufacture parts for it,” he said. “The ballot-marking device, I believe that you voted on, they don’t make them anymore. So, every time they break, we lose one … replacement parts are impossible to get.”
The new system will be more secure for the upcoming 2028 election, and additional features to meet updated requirements are expected to be in place for the 2030 election.
DeMarinis said the contract was structured so “payments will only occur after meeting deliverables, so there’s no prepayments of anything ahead of time.”
But election advocates led by Free Speech for People unsuccessfully pushed the board to delay a vote.
Susan Greenhalgh, the group’s senior adviser for election security, told the panel “remain gravely concerned that this purchase would commit Maryland to a contractor system that has not been demonstrated, tested, or certified.”
“In short, this contract will commit Maryland to a voting system that is still under development at a premium price with potential unforeseeable costs,” Greenhalgh said.
Free Speech for People is a left-leaning nonpartisan organization that advocates for tighter regulations on corporate campaign donations and election protections. Greenhalgh said her organization was joined in opposition to the contract by Common Cause Maryland and Save Our Votes Maryland, but neither of those two groups was immediately available for comment.
DeMarinis rejected claims that the system is not certified and ready.
“The system … which we’re procuring has been federally certified and state certified for use in the state of Maryland, so it is a federally certified, state certified system. Period,” DeMarinis said.
He said advocates are “conflating” issues.
Currently, the state system has to comply with the so-called 1.0 standards through the 2028 election cycle, he said. The coming update must be certified for the 2030 election, he said.
Certification of that system from the four-member federal Elections Assistance Commission. Questions remain about the effectiveness of that panel.
President Donald Trump earlier this month fired two Democrats on the panel. Of the two Republicans, one resigned and another had already voluntarily left.
“We are now dependent on the EAC and it’s not clear they will be able to certify 2.0 after being decapitated by Donald Trump,” said Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery), vice chair of the Education, Energy and Environment Committee.
Failure to meet the deadlines in the contract could carry severe consequences, DeMarinis said.
“There’s 50 states, as you know, and basically we all talk, and ES&S’s reputation is as much on the line as everything else,” DeMarinis told the board. “So, if they don’t meet this contractual obligation, I don’t foresee them being in the business much longer after that.”
