Blair County's New Voting System Makes a Successful Debut

Voters who went to the polls last Tuesday to cast their votes for their favorite candidates were met with a new, simplified way to vote.

Adhering to the state mandate that all votes have a paper trail, Blair County’s new paper ballot system made its debut.

Last April, the county elections board voted to purchase the new voting system from Elections Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., at a cost of $894,307.

The new system replaced the e-slate machines which required voters to navigate the ballot on a screen using a dial to move to each candidate.

With the new system, voters fill in a paper ballot and then feed the completed ballot into the machine which makes an electronic record of the votes. The paper ballots are then saved as a backup in case of errors in the electronic tabulations.

Poll workers across the Cove on Tuesday said the new paper ballot system was a hit with voters, and that it made the voting process faster than with the old system.

At the Greenfield Township Community Center in Claysburg, voter turnout was light but steady by mid-morning as poll workers said they new process was running smoothly.

The consensus was that people liked the new way of voting and did not see any issues.

In Newry, Martinsburg, Roaring Spring, East Freedom and Williamsburg, poll workers said it was the simplicity of the new voting machines that people liked.

Statewide, 67 percent of Pennsylvania’s counties rolled out new voting systems meant to be more secure and accessible.

Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar issued a statement saying voting across the commonwealth went smoothly.

“We are pleased to report that the election was carried out statewide with little incident,” she said. “That’s especially impressive given that 45 counties were using new voting systems.”

Blair County Director of Elections Sarah Seymour said there were some minor adjustment that needed to be made but overall, things went well.

“We had a very smooth rollout of our new machines,” she said. “We had a few hiccups with entering passwords in the morning and a few scanner screens freezing up during the day. Overall, we were very happy with how the machines worked and with our poll workers operating the new machines.”