Commissioners urged to switch to paper ballots

Several county residents requested the change, but it’s unlikely to happen by November.

The Westmoreland County commissioners were urged Tuesday to abandon touch-screen computerized voting at the polls in November in favor of paper ballots.

A group of about a half-dozen residents spoke during the commissioners public agenda meeting at the courthouse and claimed the system used by the county since 2020 was a potential target of tampering and election fraud.

“We are stressed under this system and we are not sure (of its accuracy),” said Susanna DeJeet of Delmont, the head of a group she founded to lobby against what she argued was voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. “We need to restore security and restore integrity in voting. We need to move to paper ballots, which are cheaper and have more credibility.”

Claims of widespread voter fraud nationally and in Pennsylvania in the 2020 election and subsequent balloting have been debunked by cybersecurity experts and voting officials. No specific claims of fraud have been raised related to elections in Westmoreland.

Still, DeJeet said concerns over potential hacking and tampering with the voting system used in Westmoreland County remain. She presented commissioners with petitions she said were signed by about 1,800 residents asking for a move to paper ballots.

Commissioner Sean Kertes said he directed the county elections bureau to explore a potential shift in the how voting is conducted, but suggested it was unlikely any change would be made for the November election.

“We always see election integrity as priority and we take it seriously,” Kertes said. “We will do our due diligence, but I think it is too late to make changes for this election.”

Commissioner Ted Kopas said the call for paper ballots was based a faulty understanding of security concerns related to the county’s voting method.

“I don’t agree with any allegation questioning the integrity of our election, especially here in Westmoreland County,” Kopas said. “They are sowing the seeds of doubt in our democratic process and that is a recipe for disaster.”

Election Bureau Director Greg McCloskey said the county must finalize its plans for the election before Sept. 23.

A shift to paper ballots would require substantial planning.

Nearly 300,000 ballots would have to printed and distributed to the county’s 307 voting precincts, a cost that could exceed $250,000. It would take weeks to complete what is required to be a formalized process that includes seeking sealed bids for printing services.

Officials last month sought bids to print 27,000 emergency paper ballots and another 11,200 provisional ballots that will be available for voters at the polls on Election Day. The county on Tuesday opened the one bid it received, a $45,000 proposal for ballot printing. Commissioners could award that contract at their voting meeting Thursday.

Paper ballots are used in a majority of Pennsylvania counties, including Allegheny.

Westmoreland, along with Washington and Greene, are among the 30% of counties that use ballot- marking devices, according to data collected by Verified Voting, a nonpartisan elections technology organization that tracks machines used nationwide.

Westmoreland’s current voting system has been in place since 2020. Voters use touch screen computers to mark ballots that are then printed and scanned into a counting device that records votes.

The $7.1 million system replaced touch-screen computerized voting implemented in 2006. That system produced no verifiable paper trail of the votes cast. The county, for more than half a century prior, used old-fashioned analog lever voting machines.

The voting system is one that cannot be easily tampered with, according to Scott Ross, the county’s director of computer services.

“The machines are not connected to the internet or to Wi-Fi,” Ross said. “When we send them out, they are secure.”

Votes are counted on scanner devices at the polls and recorded to a thumb drive that is transported to the courthouse and uploaded to the county’s computer system. The scanned paper ballots are stored and can be reviewed later in the counting process to verify results.

Officials insist Westmoreland County’s voting system is secure.

“It would have to be a widespread conspiracy,” McCloskey said of the potential to tamper with the vote.

Despite those assurances, Mary Turka, who works as a judge of elections at a Murrysville precinct, said she’s not satisfied that the county’s current voting system is secure.

“People will come to my precinct and ask why we are using machines,” Turka said. “People have no problems with paper ballots.”