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.
In conjunction with that, a blue-ribbon commission has just been named to gauge the protection level of the state’s electronic voting machines, which co-leader David Hickton called “vulnerable.”
The proactive moves are in response to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, which found Pennsylvania was one of 21 states targeted by hackers during the 2016 elections.
Westmoreland’s current voting machines, computerized touchscreens bought in 2005, don’t allow for a paper trail.
Full Article: New voting machines will be costly, but necessary | TribLIVE.