County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to a contract with EasyVote Solutions to better organize and communicate with poll workers.

The contract, which will cost the county $25,760 for service between last summer and June 30, 2023, will allow Butler County to more efficiently manage and communicate with poll workers and keep track of equipment.

EasyVote will not have access to voter registration data or the machines used to tally votes, according to county solicitor Wil White.

“This is not tied to your tabulation software in any way. This is not tied to the voting system,” added commissioners chairwoman Leslie Osche. “This is simply management of the election process itself.”

Some members of the public were skeptical about whether EasyVote is a good idea. Erik Edwards of Penn Township advised commissioners of an EasyVote data breach which caused the release of thousands of Georgians’ voter registration data, although commissioners said prior to Edwards’ comment that the software would not have access to that data for Butler County voters.

Osche said the county turned to EasyVote as a result of COVID-19 decimating the number of poll volunteers. Before using the database software, Osche said, the county maintained contact information for poll workers and former poll workers in “a spreadsheet that might have been up-to-date or may not have been up-to-date.”

In addition to the poll worker solution, Butler County will also be using EasyVote for inventory.

“It is a logistics operation to try to distribute all of the equipment and supplies to 89 polling places. ... It’s somewhat of a logistical challenge because you have to also make sure that judges of elections are getting supplies also,” Osche said. “So making sure that you can schedule appropriately that someone is out at the location to receive the equipment, that the judge (of elections) is going to be able to receive their supplies or that they’re coming to get them, all of that is truly” challenging.