READING, Pa. – The Berks County Commissioners agreed to delay voting on whether to move forward with a recommendation from Election Services to purchase two new high-speed scanners for mail-in ballots.
Chairman Michael S. Rivera recommended the purchase be delayed to see the outcome of the current debate in Congress over the proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (commonly known as SAVE America) Act, which is a proposed sweeping voting reform bill that could severely limit the use of mail-in ballots.
Anne Norton, Director of Election Services, said the new scanners are needed because the current older models in use by the county have issues with processing ballots with deep folds.
By state law, the county cannot open the ballots before Election Day in an effort to flatten them.
“Despite all our best efforts to flatten them on Election Day, we still struggle with them getting through the scanners,” Norton said. “We looked at the latest version which has a much smoother process, especially for when we use those two-page ballots.”
The commissioners agreed with Rivera saying it would be wise to see the outcome of the hotly debated bill.