Four Erie County residents on Tuesday called on County Council to switch from electronic touch-screen voting machines to paper ballots to ensure the security and integrity of elections. Their comments come on the heals of last month’s directive by Gov. Tom Wolf ordering counties that plan to replace their electronic voting machines to replace them with machines that leave a paper trail. Wolf said the order would increase the security of voting and make elections easier to audit, according to the Associated Press. In November, federal officials identified Pennsylvania as one of at least 21 states that had its election system targeted by hackers before the 2016 presidential election, according to AP. “You don’t have a paper trail for each vote,” said Hugh McCartney of North East Township. ”…What are we going to do. I know two options: Either you pay up those millions of dollars or go back to paper ballots.”
McCartney equated voting on a machine that does not have a paper backup to buying a corvette without being able to see the engine first.
Cindy Purvis, of Erie, said that the current machines don’t provide an assurance to people that their votes are being counted. “Find a way to get a paper trail on those machines before the November election,” she told council during its regular meeting Tuesday. “It’s very important.”
Paul Chimenti, of Erie, said, “If you don’t secure our polling places, they are in a sense a Trojan horse.”
Full Article: Residents call on county to return to paper ballots.