SEE THIS PAGE:
http://washblog.typepad.com/main/2005/02/activism_at_its.html#moreALSO *** From the interview: Cost of DREs
Q: HOW CAN COUNTIES LIKE SNOHOMISH ARGUE DREs ARE COST-EFFECTIVE?!?
--snip--
WB: Please breakdown the cost requirements of having DRE's in Snohomish County.
PL: The hardware cost $5 million. One million was reimbursed by a Bush administration federal grant under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Now some people think that HAVA is really helping people vote, in a way that shouldn’t be, but again if the machines malfunction it matters little whether it is malfunction or intentional cheating for purposes of the integrity of the election. Such intent does matter a lot of course, for certain political and possible criminal charges, but those go beyond the main scope of our concern which is the integrity of our democracy.
For the $5 million, the county received just about 950 or so machines, which ended up processing only 32% of the county’s vote. Thus, in a way the only way Snohomish county, even with $5 million dollars can afford to have touch screens is because we DON’T have touch screens being used for the majority of voting.
There is also a software licensing fee of $30,000 per year that is payable. The above cost quotes do not include the cost of the service contract, personnel to service the machines, or the cost to run the elections themselves