Luzerne County Council is expected to vote on a proposed election voting system switch at its next meeting Sept. 23.
County Election Director Emily Cook briefed council during Tuesday’s work session on the recommendation to lease a new system from Hart InterCivic for use in 2026.
A potential change was pursued because the five-year maintenance and support contract with current voting equipment supplier Dominion Voting Systems expires at the end of this year, officials said.
The bureau is recommending that voters fill out selections on paper ballots and then feed them into the Hart InterCivic tabulators to be tallied, which will reduce the equipment needed. Using the Dominion system, voters make selections on computerized touchscreen ballot marking devices, print out the ballot for review, and then feed it into a tabulator.
Leasing of the Hart InterCivic system would cost $574,000 annually for five years, which includes equipment, software, maintenance and support services, the agenda said.
However, the bureau estimates it will fully offset that cost with approximately $600,000 in annual savings using the new system, in part through reduced expenses for equipment transport to polling places and staffing. Ballot design and equipment testing would also be completed in-house instead of relying on outside contracting, the bureau said.
Cook told council the election bureau thoroughly reviewed systems from all four vendors before finalizing its recommendation.
Council Chairman John Lombardo asked how the lease would be funded, and Cook said the expense, which is a net savings, would be covered in the bureau’s operating budget.
Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott sought verification that there would be additional expenses if the county opted to continue using the Dominion system the county purchased for $3.6 million at the end of 2019.
Cook said there would be additional costs to extend Dominion’s contract and purchase new equipment from that vendor.
Lombardo asked if the Hart InterCivic tabulator would alert the paper ballot voters if they picked too many candidates (overvoting) or failed to select all allowable choices (undervoting). These notification features are included on electronic ballot marking devices.
Cook said the Hart InterCivic tabulator will flag both overvoting and undervoting as well as additional writing or marks on ballots that could cause them to be invalidated. Alerted voters would then have an option to formally void their ballot, which means it would not be cast, and then fill out a new one, Cook said.
Noting he has reservations about switching to paper ballots, Councilman Jimmy Sabatino asked about the bureau’s plans to perform required machine testing in-house instead of relying on the vendor.
Cook said full-time bureau staff can handle this task in addition to machine programming because the county will only need one electronic ballot marking device at each of the 186 voting precincts to accommodate those with disabilities, compared to the current inventory of 720 ballot marking devices.
Councilwoman Patty Krushnowski asked about plans for the old equipment.
If council approves the Hart InterCivic contract, the bureau would make arrangements to sell approximately 800 small desktop printers currently in stock along with hundreds of toner cartridges, Cook said.
Cook said the bureau plans to conduct a full system demonstration for council members in the coming days.
The county’s election board had voted last month to accept the bureau’s recommendation of the Hart InterCivic system.