Mar. 19, 2019
HARRISBURG - Rep. Rich Irvin (R-Huntingdon/Centre/Mifflin) recently introduced legislation that would exempt electronic voting systems that already have auditable paper trails from the governor’s mandatory voting system update.
In April 2018, the Department of State informed counties they must select new voting systems that provide a paper record and meet new standards of security, auditability and accessibility no later than Dec. 31, 2019.
“In many counties across Pennsylvania, systems are already in use that allow the voter to verify his or her ballot before it is cast and hold a paper record of the votes that were cast,” said Irvin. “However, the Pennsylvania Department of State is decertifying these existing systems regardless of the fact that they comply with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s call for auditable voting systems. Instead, the Pennsylvania Department of State is forcing counties with these already acceptable systems to replace them on an aggressive time line and to expend substantial taxpayer dollars doing so.”
House Bill 864 would exempt Pennsylvania’s existing systems that comply with the Department of Homeland Security’s call for verifiable ballot voting systems while giving counties a reasonable four-year timeframe to properly update their voting systems.
“Our counties, for the most part, simply don’t have the type of funds necessary to overhaul their voting system within a one-year window,” said Irvin. “By extending the timeframe to four years, our counties would be able to spread out the cost of such a mandate.”
Representative Rich Irvin
81st Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Tricia Lehman
717.772.9840
tlehman@pahousegop.com
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