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Voting machine problems continue to plague Northumberland County

Election officials in Northumberland County are trying to figure out why their voting machines malfunctioned again. There were problems in both elections last year.

SUNBURY, Pa. — While primary election results were available Tuesday night in most of our viewing area, Northumberland County's results were delayed. Voting machines malfunctioned in 20 of the county's 74 precincts.

"Our precincts have anywhere from two to five machines, so 20 precincts is probably one-third of our results that weren't reporting properly," said Nathan Savidge, director of elections in Northumberland County.

Savidge says the machines malfunctioned after they were shut down. Even so, Savidge insists no votes were lost, and all votes were secure.

"Each machine has an electronic backup, plus you get the paper copies and the physical receipts with the results on them. What we did is we went out to get those backups to make sure that everything was going to report correctly, and the integrity of those votes were saved," Savidge said.

It's not the first time these machines have malfunctioned. There were issues in both of last year's elections.

"The mechanical issues were the first two elections, and we think we solved those, but this was more of a software manipulation problem, and it's a little bit different, and that's why we're concerned. We don't want to come to every election and have some kind of issue," Northumberland County Commissioner Sam Schiccatano said.

Northumberland County bought nearly 200 voting machines in 2019 because of the state's mandate for each county to use systems with a paper trail.

Commissioner Schiccatano says he will meet with state officials and the company that makes the machines. He hopes they will replace the voting machines.

"We don't want this to happen every election. It's like when you buy a new car, and you have a problem with it. Sooner or later, they need to get you a new car," Schiccatano said.

Schiccatano believes the issues will be resolved in time for the general election in November.

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