To better inform area residents on current issues, the League of Women Voters of Lehigh County focused on the new voting machines for its Sept. 9 Hot Topics Luncheon.

Speakers Lehigh County Elections Board Chief Clerk Timothy A. Benyo and Deputy Chief Clerk Terri Harkins provided a clear and enlightening explanation of the new voting process.

As Pennsylvania is considered a “swing state” in national elections, it is a potential target for those who may want to interfere in the election process.

To promote election security, Gov. Tom Wolf created a commission to address the issue of election security.

One finding of the commission was that most areas of the state were using outdated voting machines.

Wolf, therefore, ordered all counties to have new, more secure voting machines by 2020, and Lehigh County commissioners made this project a priority.

The new machines will be available for the Nov. 5 Municipal Election.

Benyo and Harkins said voters will check in as in the past. However, instead of being given a card to cast votes electronically, the voter will receive a paper ballot.

Ballots are numbered so the number of signed-in voters may be checked against the number of ballots distributed.

A poll worker will remove the number on the ballot before handing it to the voter.

From the moment the number is removed, only the voter will handle the ballot and it will contain no voter identifying information.

Ballots will be filled out in the voting booth. After filling in choices, the voter will place the ballot in a scanner which records the vote and drops the ballot into a bag in a collection bin enclosed within the machine.

Although the machine stores votes on a memory stick, it has no Internet capabilities.

At the end of the voting session, the paper ballots are sealed in the machine’s collection bag and transported, with the memory stick, to the vote tabulation site.

Paper ballots remain sealed unless a recount is required. All votes are retained for five years.

A question-and-answer session followed the presentation and vote scanner demonstration.

In response to a concern about the necessity of completely filling in the oval indicating a voter’s choice, Harkins explained any mark within the oval will count.

Should a voter make a mistake, the spoiled ballot will be returned to a poll worker and a new ballot will be issued.

In addition, the machine will accurately scan folded ballots.

Benyo addressed the issue of write-in candidates.

The ballot has an area designated for write-in votes but stickers may not be used. Also, a ballot marking device is available for anyone who is unable to physically mark a paper ballot.

Benyo was asked if the use of the new scanners will shorten the time for tabulating the final vote count.

“[We are] hoping the results will be in a similar time,” Benyo said.

The League of Women Voters will host a series of “Hot Topics Luncheons” on the second Tuesday of the month through April 2020 at the Superior Restaurant, Emmaus.