Warren County voters will soon have new machines at their polling places, as the board of supervisors approved a support agreement during their meeting on Monday.

Circuit Clerk Jan Hyland Daigre addressed the supervisors during their regular meeting, explaining she had coordinated with Madalan Lennep, of Pharos Consulting Services in Madison.

“This is a first step (to getting new voting machines),” Daigre said, noting that there have been three recent demonstrations of voting machine technology. “… Lennep is who I’ve contracted with when there’s ever a question on setting up elections. She’s the SEMS guru for the state of Mississippi.”

Lennep has an extensive background in Mississippi, previously working with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. She also was part of the development and implementation of the Statewide Voting Machine System and the Statewide Election Management System (SEMS).

Daigre cited three voting machine companies up for consideration: Hart InterCivic Inc., VotingWorks and TSX. The machines Warren County currently uses are supplied by TSX.

“We’ve done so much of the legwork with the commissioners, that we feel like we’re halfway there,” Daigre said. “We just want to make sure, with the huge amount of funding that it will take for the voting machines, we want to make sure that our Ts are crossed and Is are dotted.”

No county funding will be used to purchase the voting machines. The funds to pay for the machines will come from the election support fund through the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office and HAVA grants.