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LOCK HAVEN -- Earlier this week, the Clinton County Commissioners met with a second vendor, approved and authorized by the state to sell updated voting machines that have been mandated to each county in the state of Pennsylvania by December 2019.
"They are not giving us a very long time to look at all the different vendors available that sell these valid voting systems. On top of that, the state is mandating them, but they are not following through with any funding," said commissioner Robert "Pete" Smeltz.
In February, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered voting machines to be replaced with models that leave a paper trail before the 2020 elections.
The estimated cost for these machines is nearly a half million dollars, just for Clinton County.
"They've made only $36,000 in funding available to Clinton County." Smeltz said.
The fear, according to state officials, is the possibility of being hacked. With the new systems, a hacker would have to have access to nearly 100 machines just to sway a countywide race.
The concern is there, however, as state officials want to kill any doubt in light of the assessment by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that hackers tried to access Pennsylvania's voter database in the past.
"We are leaning on the state for help. Pete mentioned the second demonstration of these new voting systems. It gave us a chance to get out there, to ask questions, and to get quotes. We are right in the middle of all that," commissioner Paul Conklin continued.
It has been confirmed that Susquehanna County is the first county in the state of Pennsylvania that has stepped forward and replaced their out-dated machines. But, as the commissioners point out, Susquehanna County had already been exploring upgrades to their machines before the mandate came down.
"We haven't seen the actual machines yet, we aren't sure of the model format … whether they will feature touch screens and scanners, paper print out, that sort of thing," Conklin said.
"I would like to take a stand," a fiery Jeffrey Snyder, vice chairman of the board, declared.
"I'm making it clear to the state that I don't support this. I am getting other county commissioners involved. I do not want to raise taxes on Clinton County for this, not when it will ultimately take from the taxpayer's pocket." Snyder said.
"There is absolutely no evidence of hacks. I will not be in support of that. If they won't fund the mandate, neither will we… when it absolutely is not needed. There is no proof we need them," he said.
"The avenue to fund these machines is to either drain our reserve accounts, or to just stop funding anything else. We would like to fund the rail trail or the Renovo water system, for some examples. There are plenty of other programs that are worthy programs that we feel would be good use of county funding. This is not a die hard need. It is not like we cannot hold an election without these new machines," Smeltz said.
"Opposition is a stance our organization is currently willing to take," Snyder finished.