County commissioners approve leasing new voting machines
Centre Daily Times. July 17, 2008. By Anne Danahy

BELLEFONTE — Centre County voters will cast their ballots using pens and papers — not the current touch-screen machines — in the November election.

A vote by the board of commissioners is still needed to finalize the change, but the Elections Board, which is made up of the three commissioners, voted 2-1 today to recommend the board lease new voting equipment from 2008 to 2012.

The lease of optical scan equipment will cost an estimated $1.8 million spread out over the upcoming four and a half years.

Chairman Jon Eich and Commissioner Rich Rogers voted for the motion. Commissioner Steve Dershem voted against it.

Rogers said the county would have had to buy 50 to 100 additional touch-screen machines for the fall election to accommodate the number of voters. The election code calls for one machine for every 200 voters. The touch-screen machines, he said, are no longer available.

Eich said there have been reports of problems with Centre County’s voting machines. He read from comments about reported cases of vote flipping and older voters having difficult with the machines.

“We need systems voters have confidence in,” Eich said.

Dershem said the county doesn’t have an endless supply of money, and that the county and taxpayers are facing other rising costs.

“I’m looking at a tax increase straight in the face,” Dershem said. “It’s difficult for me to support any motion that does that.”