New voting machines arrive
Berks County has welcomed its first new voting machines in more than three decades, following months of deliberation among election officials on the best way to ensure that future balloting is safe and secure.
The nearly $4.5 million purchase of the new voter-verifiable machines from Election Systems & Software fulfills a state directive that all election systems produce a paper trail to track ballots stemming from national concerns about election integrity and Russianbacked hacking attempts in the 2016 presidential election.
Berks County Elections Director Deborah M. Olivieri said a group of workers spent much of the past week unpacking and assembling the 830 machines and the 220 tabulators that will make their countywide debut to voters this fall.
“The first step is almost over,” she said, gazing around the cavernous warehouse at the Berks County Agricultural Center where voting machines were sitting in neat rows. “But I don’t
think I’ll feel any better until after voters use them for the first time in the November election.”
Olivieri said educating voters and training poll workers about the system will be her primary focus until Election Day in November.
“There are a lot more steps that will need to happen before then and now,” she said.
How the machines work
The new system, the ExpressVote, will allow voters to use touchscreens to make their selections. The machines then print paper ballots that include a bar code and plain text giving voters a chance to look at the receipt to assure their vote was recorded correctly.
The bar code is read by a scanner — casting the vote. Administrators will also be able to look at all the votes on the machine, but they would not be able to match a vote to a person. The ballots will then be secured in a bag in the tabulation machine until the polls close for evening.
Olivieri said the judge of elections at each voting precinct will remove the bag and securely close it in the presence of two other poll workers. The judge of elections will then take the bag to the county elections office on Election Night.
The plain text version will serve as the official record of votes. The Pennsylvania Department of State, which certified the ExpressVote system last November, has ordered that the text will be used for audits and recounts.
Olivieri said the ballots will remain in her office until the election results are certified and then archived.
Upgrades on the way
A reported problem with the operating system of the new voting machines has
raised some concern.
An Associated Press report published this month found that many counties, including Berks, have purchased new election systems that run on old software that is more vulnerable to hackers.
The report pointed out that these new systems use Windows 7 to create ballots, program voting machines, tally votes and report counts. That fact is significant because Windows 7 becomes obsolete in January, meaning Microsoft stops providing technical support and producing patches to fix vulnerabilities.
Critics say the situation is an example of what happens when private companies ultimately determine the security level of election systems with a lack of federal requirements or oversight.
“That’s a very serious concern,” J. Alex Halderman, a renowned election security expert, told the AP.
He said the country risks repeating the same mistakes of the past when states bought systems but failed to upgrade the software to ensure they were secure.
But vendors say they have been making consistent improvements in election systems.
ES&S spokeswoman Katina Granger told the Reading Eagle earlier this month that the company is testing on Windows 10 with the expectation that it will be available for examination by the Pennsylvania Department of State this fall. She added that ES&S and Microsoft will provide ongoing support for systems that use Windows 7 until jurisdictions can upgrade to the newer versions of Windows.
County Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt said the contract between the county and the company allows for such software upgrades for free.
Check out the machines
Berks County election officials are giving voters a chance to test the new voting machines before the November election at various events and locations throughout the summer.
Here’s a list of the upcoming opportunities:
Aug. 6: National Night Out in Shoemakersville, 6 to 9 p.m.
Aug. 9: Community Days at the Health Center at Oakbrook, 3 to 7 p.m.
Aug. 10: The Peach Fest at the Oley Fairgrounds, 2 to 10 p.m.
Aug. 15: Leesport Farmer’s Market, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Aug. 17: Wyomissing Public Library, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Aug. 24: The Muhlenberg Township River Fest, 8 a.m.