In an era of partisanship, it is highly unusual to see party bosses agree about anything. But the Northampton County party chairs of both the Republican and Democratic party appeared together at the Dec. 5 county council meeting. Republican Lee Snover and Democrat Matt Munsey seek an “independent” study of what went wrong in November’s election. “Wouldn’t that help people have confidence going into 2020?” asked Munsey. Snover said she thinks so, and told council an analysis would also “reassure Lehigh Valley citizens.”

They had a name, too: Dr. Duncan Buell, a professor of computer science and engineering at The University of South Carolina. According to Snover, Buell could do his analysis without examining the county’s voting machines, is willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement and would work for free.

Buell previously sent an email to county council, but Snover stated he received no reply.

This could be because there’s some question about just how “independent” Buell would be. Since 2016, he’s been one of the experts involved in a federal lawsuit filed by former presidential candidate Jill Stein against the state. That case was settled when the state agreed to order all 67 counties to use voting systems with voter-verifiable paper ballots. But late last month, Stein filed papers claiming the state’s use of the ExpressVote XL is a violation of the settlement.

The ExpressVote XL is used by Northampton and Philadelphia counties and has been certified by both the state and federal government

Though he failed to address the request of both party chairs, Executive Lamont McClure told council that ES&S, manufacturer of the ExpressVote XL, will be on hand at the next council meeting to explain what went wrong Nov. 5 and what steps are being taken to ensure it never happens again.

On Dec. 6, McClure said Dr. Buell is far from “independent” and he would be foolish to use someone who is listed as an expert in a suit against the state. He also pointed out that ExpressVote XL was endorsed by Snover herself, as well as both Republican members of the elections commission.