Several officials across the state are unhappy with the governor’s mandate that all counties must have new voting machines in place for the 2020 elections.
Butler County Elections Director Shari Brewer is one of them. She says she’s very disappointed with this “unfunded mandate” that would cost Butler roughly $6 million.
“If we got the same type of system we have now, that would be the cost,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
Brewer believes the entire elections system in the state needs reformed.
Most of the current election laws have not been updated since the 30s. She says consolidating voting precincts and creating “voting centers” would vastly decrease the amount of voting equipment, and poll workers, needed. ‘Vote By Mail’ is another idea.
Gov. Tom Wolf says he wants new machines that provide a paper trial for every vote.