Pennsylvania: Voter registration system will be audited over hacking concerns | WITF

The state Auditor General is launching a review of Pennsylvania's voting and registration process, following up on concerns Russians attempted to interfere in the 2016 elections. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said the review will focus on the security of the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors--or SURE--system, which tracks registration data on the state and county level. He noted, there's no evidence foreign hackers successfully breached Pennsylvania's voting and registration systems. However, he said, "there is zero question that Russians tried to hack it and to interfere in the 2016 election process in Pennsylvania, and at least 20 other states" according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

Pennsylvania: Top GOP state senator pushes for redistricting, election overhauls | WITF

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati is throwing his weight behind a few measures that have, of late, been more commonly championed by Democrats. The top Republican official, of Cameron County, said in a wide-ranging speech Monday that he wants to see the redistricting process overhauled, and also switch the commonwealth to open primaries. Scarnati made it clear, his anger over the state Supreme Court's decision to invalidate and redraw Pennsylvania's congressional map hasn't abated. But in the midst of reproaching the justices for having "trampled, shredded, and burned" the constitution, he said he knows the process has to change--though he added, it'll be a challenge.

Pennsylvania: Flashlights, generators, paper ballots employed for primaries | The Daily Item

The storm that ripped through the region at about 3 p.m. knocked out power at several polling sites, leaving voters in one Northumberland County polling place to vote by flashlight. While generators were used at several polling sites to keep voting machines running, the voting area in Jordan Township had to employ flashlights and paper ballots, said director of elections Alisha Elliott. The storm did not deter voters from coming out, though. Elliott said turnout in primary elections during a non-presidential election is usually between 15 and 17 percent, but Tuesday’s turnout was about 20 percent. Turnout in Union County topped 25 percent, besting the 18 percent prediction director of elections Greg Katherman put forth before any ballots were returned at the county government center.

Pennsylvania: Federal, state agencies monitor voting system for election fraud | WITF

With the Pennsylvania primary underway, state officials are working with the federal Department of Homeland Security to protect voting systems from hacking. Senior Department of Homeland Security official Chris Krebs visited Harrisburg and spoke at a press briefing on election security. In his current role, Krebs is performing the duties of the undersecretary for DHS's National Protection and Programs Directorate. Krebs said there's never been successful election hacking in Pennsylvania, and he's working with the Pennsylvania Department of State to keep it that way. His agency has been helping to identify and fix weaknesses in Pennsylvania's voting system.

Pennsylvania: State Waiting For Security Review Of Election Systems | KDKA

As midterm votes are being cast in Pennsylvania and across the country, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is playing catch-up. Pennsylvania is one of at least 17 states where election officials have requested on-site risk assessments of their election systems. Nearly half those reviews had not been completed by mid-May, including the one for Pennsylvania, which holds its primary election on Tuesday, May 15. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State told KDKA-TV the security review will not be completed until June at the earliest. A security review by DHS typically takes two weeks to complete.

Pennsylvania: Mailers attempt to ’embarrass people into voting’ by revealing voting history to neighbors | Lancaster Online

An apparent effort to pressure Pennsylvanians into voting in Tuesday’s primary is raising red flags in Lancaster County and across the state as polls prepare to open Tuesday morning. In mailed letters and emails, a group calling itself the “Pennsylvania State Voter Program” is targeting specific voters with publicly available information showing whether they and their neighbors voted in three recent elections — and then indicating it will send an updated list after the May 15 primary. "What if your friends, your neighbors, and your community knew whether you voted?" the letter starts. Titled "Pennsylvania State Voter Report," the letter does not indicate who specifically is behind the effort. It features a symbol that could lead some people to believe it’s coming from an official government office, though it’s not from any county or state office. The envelopes, marked that they’re from a post office box in Harrisburg, contain a giant red arrow pointing to the line, “Important taxpayer information enclosed.”

Pennsylvania: Election Cybersecurity Commission Takes Shape | GovTech

A newly formed commission convened to study Pennsylvania's election cyber­security aims to reduce vulnerability of the state's polls in time for the next presidential contest. David Hickton, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the head of University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security, and Grove City College President Paul McNulty will lead the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania's Election Security. “Every part of our government and every part of what we stand for is premised upon free and fair elections and the public's belief and confidence in our electoral system,” Hickton said. “Our systems are vulnerable.” … McNulty said the commission will focus attention on the security of the state's vote and the recommendations could serve as models for other states.

Pennsylvania: New voting machines will be costly, but necessary | TribLIVE

There's no doubt there will be howls of discontent when Westmoreland County has to pay for new voting machines. Especially seeing that about one in five eligible adults aren't registered to vote, and it's a big turnout when 60 percent of those registered voters show up on Election Day. But it's a move that,expensive or not, must be done. Ensuring fair elections is the cornerstone of American democracy — something that citizens of many parts of the world yearn for. State election officials have ordered every county to start using voting machines that provide a verifiable paper trail of the votes cast by the 2020 elections.

Pennsylvania: New University of Pittsburgh commission to focus on 2020 election security | Pittsburgh Tribune

A newly formed commission convened to study Pennsylvania's election cyber­security aims to reduce vulnerability of the state's polls in time for the next presidential contest. David Hickton, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the head of University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security, and Grove City College President Paul McNulty will lead the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania's Election Security. “Every part of our government and every part of what we stand for is premised upon free and fair elections and the public's belief and confidence in our electoral system,” Hickton said. “Our systems are vulnerable.” Hickton said there is a sense of urgency in the commission's work. He said he hopes the commission will wrap up later this year and present its recommendations to policymakers in time to have changes in place for 2020.

Pennsylvania: GOP guts another independent redistricting commission bill | WITF

For the second time this month, a state House panel has stripped a bill that would have established an independent redistricting commission made up of citizens, and replaced it with language that gives the legislature even more power over the process. GOP House State Government Committee Chair Daryl Metcalfe called the surprise meeting Monday, because the bill's supporters were trying to circumvent his panel to get the measure to the House floor. A number of lawmakers complained they were only given about ten minutes' notice of the amendment. Metcalfe's version of the bill would put six lawmakers in charge of the redistricting process. That's one more than current law allows. It would also get rid of the governor's ability to sign or veto the maps, and it would allow the Commonwealth Court to be a final arbiter of disputes, not the state Supreme Court.

Pennsylvania: Gerrymandering’s surprise co-conspirators: Democrats | Philadelphia Inquirer

Democrats have trumpeted that they are the brave defenders of democratic norms in the Trump era, fighting for political maps that give voters a true voice. They celebrated in January when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional district map as gerrymandered, casting themselves as political victims finally receiving justice from the courts. For six years, they had struggled under districts carefully constructed to ensure Republicans a majority of the state’s congressional delegation in a competitive state. With the brand-new lines raising fresh hopes for November, they now have a chance to flip numerous seats in Pennsylvania, and maybe even take back control of the U.S. House. “Loving this map. Exactly what I was fighting [for]. Fair. And. Reflective,” tweeted Margo Davidson, a Delaware County state lawmaker running for Congress. “Major win for democracy,” retweeted Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, a former member of the General Assembly.

Pennsylvania: Lancaster County will try to avoid replacing voting machines that already have paper trails | Lancaster Online

Lancaster County officials are taking a “cautious” approach to what they believe could be a costly, and perhaps misplaced, directive that they replace their 12-year-old voting system by the end of 2019. Each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties must implement a new voting system that meets two qualifications, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. The system must leave a “voter-verifiable paper record,” and it must be among the systems approved by the department in 2018 or later. Though Lancaster County is among the minority of counties that still have voting machines with paper trails, its system is from 2006. “We felt like our paper ballot system would qualify but as of right now it does not,” said Commissioner Dennis Stuckey. “What we’ll have to do is press the case and see if we can convince them that we will qualify. So far they’ve told us (our system) will not be certified.”

Pennsylvania: New voting machines go on display; counties search for ways to pay | WHYY

Pennsylvania is starting the process of replacing its voting machines. And at the state Farm Show complex this week, election administrators and the public got a chance to see what the new ones might look like. The display comes soon after Governor Tom Wolf handed down a mandate that all counties upgrade their election equipment by the end of next year, leaving officials scrambling to figure out how to afford it. Most of the current election machines are totally electronic. That became a point of concern in the wake of the 2016 elections, when federal officials told the state that the system had been targeted by hackers.

Pennsylvania: Expert: Pennsylvania ‘would get an F’ on voting machine security | The Intelligencer

Computer security expert J. Alex Halderman has seen just how vulnerable many of the nation’s voting machines are to sabotage. Pennsylvania is among the most susceptible. A decade ago, he was part of the first academic team to conduct a comprehensive security analysis of direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines, which are widely used throughout the state, including Bucks County. “What we found was disturbing,” Halderman said in a June 2017 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. “We could reprogram the machine to invisibly cause any candidate to win. We also created malicious software — vote-stealing code — that could spread from machine-to-machine like a computer virus, and silently change the election outcome.” A Bucks County native and professor and director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan, Halderman said cybersecurity is critical in the fight to protect American elections, “the bedrock of our democracy.”

Pennsylvania: Robert Torres: Its time to bring Pennsylvania’s voting machines up to modern, secure standards | The Morning Call

Imagine depending on a 12-year-old cellphone or a 15-year-old computer. No one would fault you for seeking to replace that outdated equipment with newer, technologically superior models. Many counties in the commonwealth own voting systems that old or even older. Fortunately, voting machines remain reliable longer than cellphones and laptops. Also, Pennsylvania employs a host of measures — such as comprehensive monitoring and network isolation — to maintain their security. With the cooperation of law enforcement and cybersecurity partners, we know our elections will be run in a safe, secure way this year. But as our voting machines approach the end of their usable life, we must think and plan ahead now. We are constantly reminded that worldwide cybersecurity threats are growing and hackers have become increasingly sophisticated. Modernizing Pennsylvania's election infrastructure is the responsible thing to do so our citizens can feel confident that their votes are accurately and securely recorded.

Pennsylvania: Secretary of State plots strategy for election security funds | GCN

Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres has set an aggressive timeline for the improving the security of the state's voting machines and processes.  By the end of December 2019, all Pennsylvania counties must have voter-verifiable, paper-record voting systems in place. Pennsylvania's ability to invest in elections infrastructure comes from its $13.5 million share  of $380 million in funds included in the omnibus spending law passed in March to help states secure elections infrastructure. The funding is an extension of the 2002 Help America Vote Act. To take advantage of the funds, each state is also required to contribute a 5 percent match to the HAVA funds, which brings the total amount to be distributed to Pennsylvania counties to $14.2 million. 

Pennsylvania: State will receive funding to upgrade voting machines, but will it be enough? | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Federal funding slated for an upgrade of Pennsylvania’s voting machines might fall far short of what’s needed, forcing counties to take on the financial burden. The state is expected to get $13.5 million to upgrade machines in time for the 2020 presidential election. According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, that would only be enough to cover 17 to 27 percent of the cost to replace Pennsylvania’s machines with optical scan voting systems, which leave paper trails. The commonwealth requested last week that each county have these machines — which cybersecurity experts say are an important step in preventing election meddling — by 2020, and preferably in time for the November 2019 election.

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia won’t have new voting machines in place for 2020 election, commissioner says | WHYY

Pennsylvania has told its counties to install new voting machines, if those now in service don’t have a “paper trail” that can be used for a recount. Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres set a Dec. 31, 2019, deadline for replacing the machines, in order to have new systems in place statewide for the 2020 presidential election. But Philadelphians won’t be casting their next vote for president on updated equipment. Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley said the city will find machines by the deadline, but they will not be  put in service. “I think that we are on track in the city of Philadelphia to have new equipment selected by the close of 2019,” she said.

Pennsylvania: Questions hang over order to change voting systems as county leaders angst about the $125M cost | PennLive

Election directors in mid-state counties were asked Friday about the effect of a new state edict requiring them to have new voting systems with detailed paper trails in place by the 2020 presidential primary. Their answers can be summed up in a single sentence: We don't know yet. It's not that the election directors didn't see this coming, what with all the fuss over supposed Russian hacking and fears about voter fraud. Their uncertainty, they said, is because the state hasn't yet told them what new voting systems it will allow their counties to consider. Only one system has been certified by the state to date. The Pennsylvania Department of State has promised to expand that list this summer and fall.

Pennsylvania: State Will Eliminate Paperless Voting Machines In Time For The 2020 Election | Buzzfeed

Pennsylvania, the largest swing state where a substantial number of voting machines leave no auditable paper trail, making it impossible to verify if voting tabulations have been altered, says it will fix that problem in time for the 2020 presidential election. Robert Torres, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state, announced Thursday he’d instructed all 67 counties that they have until the end of 2019 to move their balloting to only voting machines that produce a voter-verified paper record. “We want to bring about the system upgrades so Pennsylvania voters are voting on the most secure and auditable equipment as promptly and feasibly as possible,” Torres said in a statement.

Pennsylvania: Counties asked to replace voting systems by 2020 | Associated Press

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's administration told Pennsylvania's counties Thursday that he wants them to replace their electronic voting systems with machines that leave a verifiable paper trail by the end of 2019, although counties warned that the price tag is a major problem. Counties estimate the cost will be $125 million and said the greatest single impediment to buying new voting machines is the lack of a funding source. Wolf's administration said it believes it is possible for counties to update their machines by the November 2019 election and that it is working with counties to make it affordable.

Pennsylvania: GOP guts bill proposing independent redistricting commission | WHYY

The Pennsylvania legislature would get more control over how state legislative boundary lines are drawn under an amended bill that passed out of the House Government Committee along party lines Wednesday. The original bill removed lawmakers from the process in favor of an independent citizens’ commission. State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, says lawmakers are the most accountable of anyone who might be tasked with legislative reapportionment. “The best way to make sure we have citizens actually being the ones redrawing, citizens who are held accountable to their fellow citizens who elect them to office, and are not just going to go away after the work is done, and be held accountable in the future for their decisions, is to totally gut and replace this bill,” said Metcalfe, committee chairman.

Pennsylvania: To Meet State Voting Standards, Westmorland County Moves to Auditable Machines | GovTech

Westmoreland County voters will be able to test voting machines this summer that would enable election officials to meet a state directive that requires new devices to have a verifiable paper trail. While officials cautioned they have no concrete plan to replace more than 850 touchscreen voting computers the county purchased 13 years ago, they said preliminary work is underway in preparation for a potential purchase of new machines. “Our machines are old, but they work well. But like everything else, they have a life cycle,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas. “We are doing our homework now to find a replacement.”

Pennsylvania: Concerned voters ask Bucks County commissioners to abandon electronic voting machines, invest in paper ballots | Courier Times

Dozens of members and supporters of the group SAVE-Bucks Votes filled the Bucks County Commissioners meeting Wednesday, imploring officials to dump the county’s electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots. The non-partisan group has been lobbying the commissioners, who also serve as the county’s board of elections, to replace the approximately 900 direct record electronic machines (DRE) with a voter-marked, paper-based optical scan (PBOS) system. Bucks bought the current machines in 2006, after much debate. Addressing the issue is urgent, Paul Springle, of Wrightstown, told the board. During Senate testimony last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said not having a way to audit election results is “absolutely a national security concern.” Because electronic machines like the ones used in Bucks produce no paper trail and cannot be properly audited in the event of a challenge or other concerns, they are considered by some to be at risk.

Pennsylvania: Most Pennsylvania voting machines are old, hackable, and will likely be used to count the 2020 votes | Philadelphia Inquirer

One Pennsylvania county official claims his voting machines are unhackable. Another admits hers are old, but the county can’t afford to buy new ones. A third says he’s waiting for the state to tell him which new voting machines are safest for Pennsylvania voters. At a time of national concern over foreign interference in U.S. elections, 57 percent of the voters in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia’s, are casting their ballots on machines that are outdated, hackable, and don’t provide a paper record of each vote to safeguard against fraud. After Texas, Pennsylvania has the most registered voters using machines with no paper trail, according to Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group promoting trustworthy voting systems.

Pennsylvania: Legislature has long history of inaction on redistricting reform bills | WHYY

Now that legal challenges to Pennsylvania’s new court-drawn congressional map have been rejected, state lawmakers have turned their attention to the typical process by which the state reapportions congressional districts every decade. But some stakeholders are skeptical about whether any current proposals will ever make it to a vote. There are four bills circulating in the Statehouse right now. All call for an independent redistricting commission, but differ on details such as the role the legislature would play in the process, the number of commissioners, their qualifications, how they’d be selected and how to gauge potential partisan influences.

Pennsylvania: National GOP group drops lawsuit threat over Pennsylvania’s special election | Tribune

The National Republican Congressional Committee will not file a lawsuit over “irregularities” the group said occurred in last week's 18th Congressional District special election, a spokesman said Friday. Republican Rick Saccone on Wednesday conceded defeat in his race against Democrat Conor Lamb. Unofficial tallies show Lamb, 33, of Mt. Lebanon won by 755 votes. The NRCC, which poured more than $3 million into the race, said the day after the election that it was considering legal action over alleged glitches in electronic voting machines, reports from people who said they couldn't find the right polling places and a Saccone attorney who had to get a signed authorization from the Republican Party before an Allegheny County elections official would let the attorney watch the vote-counting process.

Pennsylvania: GOP chief justice slams Republican judicial impeachment move | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Thursday that he is "very concerned" about an effort to impeach his four colleagues who voted to overturn the state's congressional district map and impose a new one. "Threats of impeachment directed against Justices because of their decision in a particular case are an attack upon an independent judiciary, which is an essential component of our constitutional plan of government," Chief Justice Thomas Saylor said in a statement. Justice Saylor, elected to the court as a Republican, dissented from the majority in the case.

Pennsylvania: Supreme Court turns down gerrymander appeal from Pennsylvania’s GOP | Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court refused Monday to block a new election map for Pennsylvania that gives Democrats a chance to win four or more congressional seats in November. The justices turned down a second and final appeal from Pennsylvania's Republican leaders, who defended the gerrymandered districts that had given them a steady 13-5 advantage over the Democrats for years. The new map gives Democrats a good chance to win half of the 18 House seats. Last week, they celebrated picking up a Republican seat when Conor Lamb claimed victory in a special election for a seat in southwestern Pennsylvania. Republicans have not conceded that race as final provisional ballots are counted. Lamb and all other candidates will run this fall in districts that have been redrawn.

Pennsylvania: Lack of court action on new Pennsylvania voting map causing concern | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With Tuesday’s deadline for filing nominating petitions imminent, prospective candidates waiting for courts to take action on Pennsylvania's radically reconfigured congressional map learned Friday that the wait will continue. By day's end Friday, neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor the U.S. District Court here had decided whether to grant requests from Republican lawmakers who want them to overturn the new congressional map put in place by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ruled that lines drawn in 2011 represented an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander favoring Republicans. Members of both parties and outside experts appeared to be at a loss to explain the courts' inaction. The delay, at least on the U.S. Supreme Court side, is "quite unusual," said Richard L. Hasen, a law and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine.