Monroe County prepares to use new voting system

Monroe residents should be prepared for a new voting experience when they cast their vote on paper for the first time in years Nov. 5.

A possible source of confusion is that candidates running as both Republican and Democrat are listed twice on Monroe’s paper ballots.

This is because the old electronic machines processed cross-filed candidates in this way, voter registration and elections director Sara May-Silfee said. The scanner will only register one vote regardless of whether a voter fills in both ovals for a cross-filed candidate.

The county will upgrade the ballot to only list cross-filed candidates once by the presidential primary in April, May-Silfee said.

In the voter registration warehouse, multiple new ClearCast scanners and ClearAccess screens for voters with disabilities are already lined up waiting for voting day.

This year, instead of using large electronic screens, voters will receive a paper ballot similar to an absentee ballot, May-Silfee said. After filling in the ovals beside their candidates of choice, they will feed their ballot into the scanner, which will deposit it into a secure voting box.

If a voter filled in the ballot incorrectly, the scanner will run a message giving the voter the choice to cast it as is or to take it back. Polling workers can destroy the old ballot and issue the voter a new one if necessary, May-Silfee said.

Voters will disabilities can use a small screen to help them fill out and print the ballot.

Voters should carefully read the instructions so that they vote for the correct number of candidates per position, May-Silfee said. If a voter were to overvote for a position and command the scanner to accept the ballot anyway, the system wouldn’t register a vote for that position.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf mandated that counties put in new voting systems with a paper trail by April of 2020 in order to record votes more securely. Like many other counties, Monroe is implementing the new system earlier so that residents will be familiar with it by the primary, May-Silfee said.

The county budged $1 million to fund the new system, May-Silfee said.

A benefit of the paper system is that more people will be able to fill out their ballots at the same time than before, May-Silfee said. The county will continue expanding the system for the primary, adding extra scanners for the larger precincts.

A sample ballot and videos explaining the new voting process can be found at www.monroecountypa.gov under the Elections and Voter Registration office department page.