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By CHRIS MORELLI
cmorelli@lockhaven.com
BELLEFONTE -- Centre County is replacing its voting machines, but you won't find the old ones out in the trash at the Willowbank Building just yet.
The new Election Systems & Software – or ES&S – machines are on their way.
However, at a recent Centre County commissioners meeting, it was revealed that the old machines are being kept in storage – for now.
"We don't want to get rid of the old machines until we have fully implemented the new ones," said Centre County Commissioner Steve Dershem. "If there's a glitch or some issues that arise, we want to have the ability to fall back on the old technology if we need to, at least for this year … we want to make sure that resource is available, if need be."
After exploring several different options, the Centre County commissioners approved spending $1.2 million for the purchase of new countywide voting machines.
ES&S is the same vendor of the machines the county currently uses.
The 200 machines will come with a price tag of $1,192,571.75. That price includes $860,571.75 for the equipment and $332,000 for a five-year hardware and software maintenance agreement, as well as set-up and training.
County administrator Margaret Gray said that the county is exploring options for the old machines.
"We are in the process of exploring what those options might look like," Gray explained. "It's a timely question and we are working to find an answer to make the best use of those old machines."
The change in voting machines was necessitated last year. At the time, the Pennsylvania Department of State, on recommendation from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, required that existing voting machines across the state be replaced by the end of 2019.
The new voting systems are required to be paper-based and not connected to the Internet. Centre County's existing machines already meet those criteria.
However, Gov. Tom Wolf has de-certified machines throughout the state.
Wolf's budget included $75 million in the budget for new machines statewide.
"The Governor put $75 million in his budget – $15 over five years – but I think any commissioner worth their salt would want that $75 million in one year, but we'll wait and see what those negotiations look like in Harrisburg," commissioner Michael Pipe said.
The new ES&S machines will make their debut in the primary on Tuesday, May 21 throughout the county.