Pennsylvania lawmaker questions governor's drive for new voting machines

[TexasTowelie]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A top Republican state senator is drafting legislation to prevent Gov. Tom Wolf from forcing Pennsylvania counties to buy new voting machines, a priority for the Democratic governor to ensure the machines are in place in time for the 2020 presidential election.

Wolf has promoted the effort as a safeguard against hacking, since four in five Pennsylvania voters use electronic voting machines that lack an auditable paper trail.

But Senate Majority Whip, Sen. John Gordner, R-Columbia, said Wednesday he wants to require legislative approval before Wolf — or any Pennsylvania governor— can force counties to buy new machines and set up a commission to gather public input and develop recommendations.

Gordner said his plan does not necessarily have the backing of the Senate's Republican leadership. Rather, he said, it springs from the concerns of county commissioners in his district.

Read more: http://www2.philly.com/politics/pennsylvania/pa-lawmaker-questions-governors-drive-new-voting-machines-20181206.html

[FakeNoose]

1. Until this is settled, Pennsylvania should be voting on paper ballots

The current voting machines are compromised, and they should never be used again.

[meow2u3]

2. Translation: Republicans rigged the voting machines and want to keep it that way

Sadly, those voting machines may have been programmed to prevent the voters from even knowing their vote might be flipped from blue to red. That's because the DREs they use in my county have red lights that light up by the candidate's name, but everything goes out when you press the big "VOTE" button on the bottom right portion of the machine. For that reason, the voters will never know for sure if their votes would have been counted as cast.

Until that's settled, we should use paper ballots, with or preferentially without, optical scanners that can be deliberately miscalibrated by counties.