Under Pennsylvania’s Election Code, 10 or more citizens have the right to challenge the Department of State’s certification of a voting system. That’s exactly what happened to the ExpressVote XL voting system in Northampton County, a hybrid combining a voter-verified paper trail with the simplicity of a touch screen.

This system was certified by both the federal and state governments in November 2018. Eight months later, a challenge was filed. This triggered an automatic re-examination, which was conducted off-site in August.

On Sept. 3, the Department of State rejected the challenge and has maintained the ExpressVote XL certification in Northampton County.

This petition for re-examination was signed by 200 citizens. There were 10 primary concerns. Seven were immediately dismissed because “they amount to purely legal arguments which do not apply to the re-examination or certification of an electronic voting system,” according to the state.

This left three arguments, which were investigated and found to be non-issues.

The first argument considered the possibility of tampering with the machine. Independent examiners had no success after two days of testing.

Second, paper ballot purists complained that the paper ballots cast into a secured black box are in chronological order, making it possible to determine how someone voted. This attack was rejected because the votes go into a sealed black box never seen by poll workers. Also, when the ballot boxes are returned, the paper ballots are commingled by the county elections office before the official count.

Third, if a voter decides he is unhappy with his paper ballot, he can ask for a new ballot. Because an elections worker must retrieve the spoiled ballot, people complain a poll worker might see the spoiled ballot. It was noted the ballot is located on the far right side of the machine and is very difficult to review unless a concerted effort is made. And it’s a spoiled ballot that goes right into the envelope, not the actual vote. So there’s no privacy violation.

“We appreciate that the [Department of State] conducted its due diligence and we respect the right of anyone who wants to ask questions and learn more about our voting machines,” said Steve Pearson, election systems and software vice president. “Many counties throughout the commonwealth have already been experiencing positive results with demonstrations and trainings. We look forward to working with all counties utilizing our systems and ensuring that they have the tools necessary for proper education and outreach.”

“Accessible and secure elections are our goal in Northampton County, and we have a system that’s passed the test twice,” Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said.

The county has been demonstrating the machine at various locations, as well as at the courthouse.