Over half of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will employ the use of electronic pollbooks.
This November, more Pennsylvanian voters than ever are set to use electronic pollbooks to sign in at the polls rather than traditional paper books.
The electronic pollbooks are designed to make voting quicker and more efficient, according to election officials. They also assist with recordkeeping. Most pollbooks used in Pennsylvania will run on Apple iPads.
The electronic pollbooks also aim to eliminate wait times at the polls by removing the need for election workers to spend time searching for voters in the physical books.
In 2016, only four counties in Pennsylvania were using electronic poll books.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, 33 of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties will be using electronic pollbooks this November.
Thad Hall, Mercer County’s election director, said a major benefit to using electronic pollbooks is streamlining the post-election check known as reconciliation. During the process, counties check the number of ballots received against the number of voters recorded as having voted to make sure the number is the same.
Electronic pollbooks will automatically keep a count of these totals, while physical books require poll workers to manually count through the totals. This can introduce human error and the need for recounts.
The funding for electronic pollbooks largely comes from funds appropriated in Act 88. The 2022 law distributed $45 million each year to Pennsylvania counties for election administration.
The funds have been used by counties to purchase voting equipment and offset election costs.
Hall said in total, Mercer County spent roughly $200,000 on electronic pollbooks.
“The Act 88 money is critical for us doing this over time, being able to pay for the recurring cost,” he explained.
