The League of Women Voters of Lehigh County focused on the county’s new voting machines at its Sept. 9 Hot Topics luncheon. Speakers Timothy A. Benyo, chief clerk to the Lehigh County Elections Board, and Terri Harkins, deputy chief clerk, provided a clear explanation of the new voting process.

To promote election security, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered that all counties must have new, secure voting machines by 2020.

The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners made this project a priority and will have the machines available for the Nov. 5 election. There are different machines for Berks and Northampton counties.

Benyo and Harkins said 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. The ballot will contain no 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 an enclosed collection bin 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 ballots are sealed in the collection bag and transported, with the memory stick, to the vote tabulation site. The paper ballots remain sealed unless a recount is required. All votes are retained for five years.

Harkins explained any mark within the oval will count. If a mistake is made, the ruined ballot will be returned to a poll worker and a new ballot will be issued. The machine will also accurately scan folded ballots.

According to Benyo, 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 physically unable to mark a paper ballot.