Voting system money to be encumbered

State and federal officials have not yet produced a list of acceptable systems.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- In order to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, Mercer County Commissioners plan to adopt a resolution today to encumber money to buy a new voting system before the county's next election -- the May primary.
But they are getting edgy about the failure of the state and federal government to come up with a list of certified voting machines. If the county bought a voting system and it did not receive certification, it would be illegal to use.
Although counties face a Jan. 1 federal deadline for buying a new system, the state has indicated that instead of an actual purchase, it will accept a resolution to encumber funds as evidence of a county's commitment.
So commissioners have examined voting machines and once they pass today's resolution to encumber the funds, they can only wait for the Pennsylvania Department of State to announce which machines are allowed to be used in Pennsylvania. To complicate matters, the state cannot certify machines until the federal government certifies them.
Paper trail problems
In another twist, the county was warned this week by a state official against choosing a voting machine based on its ability to produce a voter-verified paper audit trail. The VVPAT is a paper stub some machines can produce for a voter to review to make sure their vote was properly recorded. This option is viewed by some as a good safety feature to ensure that voters did not misunderstand electronic voting machine prompts and cast a vote in error.
This happened in Mercer County in large numbers in the November 2004 general election. But although some states allow such a system, Pennsylvania law forbids it because of the possibility that the secret ballot might be compromised.