Coming Soon: Express Vote XL Demos

When you vote in November, you'll notice a new machine that looks a lot like the one you've been using in NorCo. Believe me, it's a vast improvement over the typical touch screen voting machine. One reason for this is the voter-verifiable paper ballot going directly into a sealed ballot box attached to the right side of the machine. But what I like best about it is that it is so user-friendly, both for the poll worker and voter. You'll be able to see this for yourself because the county intends to demonstrate the system at numerous locations before election day. When the county has some dates and places, I will post them. 

This machine is called the ExpressVote XL. The XL just means it's big, with a 32" inch ... screen.  Size matters, you know. A group of election judges, including myself, and county workers were trained on them yesterday in the cavernous Gracedale warehouse. .

Like the current system, this will also have a privacy curtain so no one can see how you vote. Unlike the current system, this touchscreen  has several features that will assist you in making voting much easier.

The write-in option, which usually stymies most voters, is a snap, as easy as typing your name.

Although it's highly unlikely you'll have any trouble reading a 32" screen, there are built-in features for those who do. Not everyone is perfect like me. You can enlarge the text size, which will take you through each race individually. You can then switch back if you want. If you are suffering from macular degeneration, you might have trouble reading a colored screen. You can change the contrast to black-and-white. And for the first time, I've seen a machine that really goes out of its way to accommodate people who are completely blind or may even be paralyzed from the neck down. Each voting precinct will have a large rectangular box enabling a physically challenged voter to make his or her choices. I was concerned this could slow things down but was told it's amazingly fast.

In most touchscreens, a machine operator will activate the machine. The ExpressVote XL is already active. It becomes operational when you insert the ballot - a blank piece of thermal paper - handed to you by a poll worker.

Can the ballot get stuck or refuse to load? I tried everything yesterday. I crumbled it up and tossed it to a fellow student. He stomped on it. We handed it back to our teacher, sure it would fail. He smiled and ripped it. The ballot still loaded. A vote could still be cast.   

No ballot has been so messed up that it's been rejected, but that's for elections in Jersey and Delaware. We Pennsylvanians are a lot sloppier. 

Once the voter makes his choices, his printed ballot will pop up under a glass screen on the right side of the machine. If satisfied, the voter can cast the ballot, which then goes into the sealed ballot box. If not satisfied, he can quit and the ballot will be ejected and handed to a poll worker as a "spoiled ballot."

You get three tries. Then, like in baseball, you're out. But unlike baseball, you still have the right to cast a provisional ballot.

At the end of the night, when the polls close, the votes will be transferred to an encrypted flash drive. They will also still be on the machine. And the sealed ballot box will be opened and scanned during the canvass process. Any number of scanners have been used, and the paper ballots always match the totals on he flash drive and machine.       

I believe you'll like the new system.   

Wolf's Politically Inspired Veto Punishes Counties

Governor Tom Wolf  may pretend he's a regular guy driving a Jeep Wrangler, but the reality is that he's a partisan hack. He just proved it, too. Let me tell you the story.

Last year, in an effort to settle a lawsuit about election security, Wolf ordered all 67 counties to use voting systems with voter-verifiable paper trails in time for next year's Presidential election.  This was an unfunded mandate that cost both Lehigh and Northampton County around $5 million. But we had no reason to fear. Wolf promised to visit the money tree in Harrisburg at budget time.

After some initial reluctance by the GOP, the state legislature finally groaned and agreed to give counties up to $90 million to help reimburse this cost. At last week's NorCo Council meeting, member John Cusick thanked State Senators Lisa Boscola and Mario Scavello for their support. He urged Governor Wolf to sign it.

Guess what? On Friday, Governor Wolf vetoed it. .

Governor Wolf's veto is the result of a provision that also eliminates straight-party voting. This allows a voter to select one political party's complete slate of candidates with a single mark. In his veto message, Wolf reasoned "the isolated removal of a convenient voting option (the straight-party button) would increase waiting times and could discourage participation."

Elimination of the straight-party option made it unacceptable to partisan hacks who happen to be Democrats. In the House, only four Democrats voted for the bill. In the Senate, Boscola was one of only three Democrats to vote Yes.

Locally, all Democratic State Representatives voted against the measure. The last thing Mike Schlossberg, Pete Schweyer, Steve Samuelson or Bob Freeman wants is an informed voter. They want lever pullers. This leads to one-party rule, and the result is political corruption.

Like Fed Ed.

Or Reading's Mayor.

Or Scranton's Mayor.

Ironically, in states where Democrats are a minority, elimination of straight-party voting is favored. In Oklahoma, for example, State Democratic Chair Anna Langthorn decries the practice in her state, saying it enables "uneducated voting."

Here in Pennsylvania, African American lawmakers blasted the elimination of the straight-ticket as a racist attempt to suppress voting by those with limited literacy or access to information.

In defending this arcane and outdated practice, these so-called representatives have slurred the intelligence of the voiceless they pretend to champion

Pennsylvania is one of only eight states that still allow straight-party voting.

What kills me is that this is a pretty good compromise bill.  Counties get some badly needed money to comply with Wolf's imperial decree. In addition, the vetoed bill would expanded absentee-voting deadlines. In other words, it would make voting more inclusive. Under current law, absentee ballots must be received by the elections office no later than the Friday before an election. Ballots received after that date, no matter when postmarked, are rejected.

Under the vetoed changes, elections officials would be required to accept absentee ballots received as long as a week after the election, so long as they were post-marked the Friday before the election.

Since this was a close vote, I doubt there's any ability to override Wolf's political veto. Besides, there are partisan hacks in the GOP, too, and they love the idea of blaming Wolf and Democrats for screwing counties.

NorCo Council member John Cusick said he is disappointed at Wolf's veto of compromise legislation, saying it has created a "massive unfunded mandate on local property taxpayers across the Commonwealth." Executive Lamont McClure echoed the disappointment, but he adds, "[W]e remain convinced Governor Wolf will make good on his promise to the counties."

And my rent check's in the mail.

NorCo Council Prez Ron Heckman and Peg Ferraro want the state legislature and Governor Wolf to do the right  thing and resolve their differences.

Why start now?

My own view is that counties will never see a dime from the state.