Officials approve trial use of e-poll books for fall election check-in at some precincts

Lebanon County election officials will be holding a dual trial using electronic poll books to check-in voters at some precincts for the Nov. 7 election.

The elections board Thursday voted unanimously to let Election Systems and Software, known as ES&S, and KNOWiNK provide their e-poll book systems for select trial runs in Lebanon County. The electronic poll book systems would have voters sign in on tablet computers before casting their votes at their polling places.

Both trials will be at no cost to the county with vendors agreeing to front all the equipment, training and service costs, according to Sean Drasher, Lebanon County’s Bureau of Registration and Elections director.

The precincts for the trial have not been finalized yet, though Drasher said the goal is to have 10%, or six precincts, each using e-poll books in November.

"I tried to make sure there was no one political party over represented, and that the voter counts were pretty high for the precincts that we were choosing," he said.

E-poll books are loaded with registered voters' names, addresses and birth dates. When a voter arrives, a poll worker would be able to review that information and have the voter sign similar to having a physical poll book. E-poll books have nothing to do with casting a ballot or tabulating votes.

ES&S and KNOWiNK demonstrated their systems to officials and residents during a Lebanon County Commissioner workshop meeting July 26.  The books would allow poll workers to quickly identify a voter's status. Messages would display for issues that include if someone has already received a mail-in ballot, if a voter needs to verify their identification, or if they are in the wrong polling place.

If a voter is in the wrong polling place, the electronic book would provide the poll worker with the correct polling place and address to direct the voter. Instructions for other voting day issues would also be provided for the poll worker.

"Counties that have have rolled out these e-poll books have seen lines drop substantially at the polling places on election day," Drasher said. "That's something I want to see with my own eyes, but that has been constant feedback we've gotten back from all the other counties."

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Officials are expecting about 30,000 registered voters turning out for the Nov. 7 elections. Drasher said the goal was to do a trial before the 2024 presidential election, when officials are expecting 90,000 registered voters to turn out.

Drasher added that e-polling books would also help speed up the inputting processes the election office needs to do after an election is over.

"With a few clicks after the election is over, we could update our records," he said. "With paper poll books, it's a very slow process. It could take as long as a month to update records, and it's a lot of people doing a lot of hand transactions over 91,000 registered voters. This is going to cut down on human error and speed up our process on the back end dramatically."

County officials are looking to spend between $220,000 to $260,000 for a complete rollout of e-polling books for the 60 voting precincts. In 2021, Berks County commissioners purchased 440 electronic poll books for $1.1 million from ES&S.

"You're paying per unit, (and) we only have 91,000 voters," Drasher said. "So when you are looking at other counties, they are working with double the number of voters."

County commissioners approved a $450,000 state Election Integrity Grant Thursday morning for the election office. Drasher said he hopes to use those funds for an e-polling book rollout if approved by the election board after receiving the results of the trial program.

Resident concerns

A resident presented some concerns to officials about using e-poll books, including that the trial is being approved by an interim election board. Normally, the three county commissioners are members of the county election board, However, Commissioners Michael Kuhn, Jo Ellen Litz and Bob Phillips are running for re-election on Nov. 7, along with Democratic challenger Michael Schroeder.

Several counties over the last few years have either started using or began trial runs with e-poll books, including Dauphin, Lancaster, Berks, York and Philadelphia.

Venders from both ES&S and KNOWiNK said that their electronic poll books are password protected and with encryption software. Both vendors added that if a book was removed from a location, the companies would be able to locate the tablet remotely.

"From a technology security standpoint, there is nothing here that isn't public information anyway," Drasher said. "There's no Social Security number, no drivers license number. There's nothing on these e-poll books that somebody couldn't just go out and get publicly already."

The Pennsylvania Department of State allows anyone to get a full current voters list, including their name, voter ID number, address and and date of birth, for $20 on their website at dos.pa.gov. This information does not include information such as Social Security numbers.

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Polling places moved

Two polling places will be permanently moved starting on the Nov. 7 election. The North Cornwall North precinct will be moving to 330 S. 18th Street. The North Lebanon West precinct will also be moving to the Ebenezer United Methodist Church at 1776 Ebenezer Road.

"Everything is on schedule," Drasher said to the election board Thursday. "We should have the ballot done by the end of next week."

Residents looking for more information about the election can visit the Lebanon County Voter Registration Office website at http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/Voter_Registration or the Pennsylvania Department of State's website at vote.pa.gov.

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Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon PA officials plan trial of e-poll books for election check-in