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Pima County's elections equipment likely will need replacement after the 2008 general election, and County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said that represents an opportunity to buy the most secure equipment available.

Huckelberry wants to set aside $10 million in the next county bond election, which could take place in 2008 or 2009, for new elections equipment and a new, more secure building that would house the county's elections division and the voter registration functions of the Pima County Recorder's Office.

The way Pima County conducts its elections and the equipment it uses have been the source of controversy over the last year and a half as elections-integrity activists said there were too many ways results could be tampered with.

Earlier this year, Huckelberry released a report that outlined changes the county planned to make, including physically bringing vote-tabulating computers to election headquarters rather than transmitting results via modem, and not allowing any single staff member to know all the passwords required to enter the system.

A Pima County Superior Court judge earlier this week ordered databases from the 2006 primary and general elections to be released to the Pima County Democratic Party, which has raised concerns about the conduct of previous elections.

Pima County last bought new elections equipment in the mid-1990s at a cost of $3 million. Huckelberry said the county wants to replace the equipment before the 2010 election.

That represents an opportunity to hear from activists and other concerned residents about the best possible system, though Huckelberry said the county may well buy updated versions of the same equipment it has now.

Huckelberry said the money for a new system would have to come from a future bond package. He has not raised the issue with the Bond Advisory Committee, but he expects to discuss it with the Board of Supervisors sometime in January when he presents the elections security report and the public comments from four meetings on the report.

Huckelberry estimated a new elections system would cost $5 million, and the new building would cost another $5 million.