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County resists Pennsylvania’s push for new voting machines

A Pennsylvania county is signaling that it won’t go along with Gov. Tom Wolf’s insistence that counties buy new voting systems as an election-security measure in 2020’s presidential election.

Marla Coccia, right, gets instruction from John Chambers at the polling place at Engine 49 Firehouse at 13th and Shunk on Nov. 5.
Marla Coccia, right, gets instruction from John Chambers at the polling place at Engine 49 Firehouse at 13th and Shunk on Nov. 5.Read moreMICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer
    by MARC LEVY, The Associated Press
    Published 

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania county is signaling that it won’t go along with Gov. Tom Wolf’s insistence that counties buy new voting systems as an election-security measure in 2020’s presidential election.

Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said Wednesday that he’s comfortable with the county’s old machines, particularly after hearing about paper jams, long lines and other problems in other counties that debuted new machines in last week’s election.

Wolf began pressing counties last year to replace their voting machines with machines that have an auditable paper backup. That was after federal authorities warned Pennsylvania and other states that Russian hackers targeted them during 2016's election.

Wolf and state lawmakers approved aid to foot 60% of the cost of the machines. Pennsylvania is expected to be one of the nation’s premier presidential battlegrounds.