State to help pay for vote after machines decertified
By TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

The state will help Beaver, Greene and Mercer counties pay for their Nov. 8 municipal elections after it decertified their electronic voting machines.

The costs could run from $46,000 in Greene County to $200,000 in Beaver County, officials said.

The three counties had been using UniLect Patriot voting machines, which were decertified in April after they failed a test for recording and counting votes.

Beaver County commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said the three counties lobbied hard to get state help for the upcoming elections.

"This caused us a lot of heartburn," he said.

Beaver County had spent $1.2 million on its UniLect machines, first used there in 1997, Donatella said. He estimated that it cost Beaver County $3 million to buy new electronic machines.

Greene County spent about $350,000 on its electronic machines in 1998, commissioners Chairman Pam Snyder said.

Mercer County officials could not be reached for comment.

Voters in the three counties will use paper ballots in November.