LOCAL

Franklin County election board closer to getting new voting equipment

Sherry Greenfield
sgreenfield@herald-mail.com

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — The Franklin County (Pa.) Election Board is closer to replacing its voting equipment.

“We have chosen our vendor,” Franklin County Chief Clerk Jean Byers said. “We’ve reached out to them.”

Election Systems & Software of Nebraska is the vendor.

“They are the same vendor we have had for some 30 years,” Byers said. “There will be very little change for voters or poll workers.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Senate and House intelligence committees, have asked all states that use paper ballots to switch to a new voting system in an attempt to prevent election tampering.

The new machines will provide a slip of paper with the votes cast. Officials believe the hard copy printout will prevent hacking. The paper trail can be audited by poll workers to also assure election security.

In April 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of State informed counties to upgrade their election equipment.

The new machines must in place by Dec. 31 and be up and running no later than the April 2020 primary.

In Franklin County, the new voting machines could be in place for the Nov. 5 municipal election, Herald-Mail Media reported in April.

The county’s cost of the new voting equipment is $646,053.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing a minimum of $15 million in state funding each for the next five years, for a combined total of $75 million, to assist counties in acquiring the new equipment, according to a June 20 news release from the state department.

“The Department of State will continue to pursue more federal assistance and other funding sources to assist counties in paying for their new voting systems,” the release said.

Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, 34 have voted to either buy or lease a new voting system with a paper record, or have approved funding for such a system.

Should a county continue to use its current machines, all votes cast could be voided.

“We do not have a choice when the secretary of state says that she will not count our votes,” Jerry Warnement, a member of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told Herald-Mail Media in April.