Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed the so-called “voting machine bill.”
It would have provided $90 million to help counties buy new voting machines before next year’s elections, but it would have also ordered some changes to election laws.
One provision would have eliminated the straight-party ticket voting option on ballots. Wolf said that could lead to voter confusion and longer lines at polls.
The governor did say that he’s still committed to helping counties pay for voting machines and more should be done to make it easier to vote.
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Even if the bill would have gone through, there likely wouldn’t have been much of an impact here in Butler County.
Earlier this year, the commissioners gave the OK to the purchase of 115 new voting machines for a price of about $940,000. The machines are paper-based and not electronic like the county’s current machines.
If the state does ever award money to individual counties to pay for new machines, it’s thought there would be a retroactive reimbursement system put in place.