READING, Pa. – The Berks County Board of Elections on Thursday voted to amend the election worker’s oath to place a ban on using prediction markets (utilizing AI technology) to bet or wager on election outcomes.
The action amends the election worker’s oath, but not the poll worker’s oath, as the poll worker’s oath is set statutorily and cannot be changed by the election board.
Both oaths, however, already prohibit betting on elections, but the additional language makes it clear that election workers may not use prediction markets for bets or wagers on election outcomes.
County Commission Christian Y. Leinbach said Delaware County recently took similar action.
“When I was a kid, I kind of remember when Atlantic City was starting to grow and that’s where you went if you wanted to gamble,” Leinbach said. “Then the lottery came to Pennsylvania, and then casinos came to Pennsylvania, and look, I’m not telling people what they should or shouldn’t do, but now we’re betting on whether or not Kyle Schwarber (designated hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies) walks at his next time at bat.”
“We’re betting on all kinds of things,” he added. “This is in your face, and we need to make it very clear of the integrity of our elections, and that our poll workers need to understand they can have nothing to do with this. Is it an issue? Ask yourself this question: in the last six months, we’ve had cases of NBA players being indicted not for throwing a game for themselves, but for throwing a game for somebody that was a friend that was betting on the game to help them win $100,000. It’s pervasive and we don’t want this anywhere near our elections.”
Commissioner Dante Santoni Jr. responded that when he first heard about the resolution, he thought to himself that it was unnecessary.
“But then I gave it more thought and I thought that it’s really important to the integrity of our process,” Santoni said.
Santoni added that such language it is more important than ever with so much focus being placed on elections.
In other business, the board voted to allow a date range from April 20th until May 19th as permissible dates to be on the outer envelope of a mail in absentee ballot for the Primary Election.
The board noted that using the latest court decision, the ballots must be counted regardless of the date, but in the event of another opposing court decision, Berks County would segregate all ballots outside of the date range.
Leinbach said the county is doing this because the actual election law has not been touched.
“The law still says the envelopes shall be signed and dated,” Leinbach said. “We’re getting kicked back and forth from different court decisions right now.”
Director of Elections Anne Norton said if a ballot is received with an incorrect date, the voter is notified by the Election Office and given an opportunity to change it.