Delaware County will be required to use voting machines that have a paper trail that can be verified by voters and audited, according to a county press release.

The new system will need to be in place by the 2020 primary election.

Residents are being asked to weigh in on five new voting systems that meet those criteria at a public forum July 9, 4 p.m., in the Delaware County Council Public Meeting Room, 201 W. Front St. in Media.

The forum is sponsored by The County’s Board of Elections and Delaware County Council.

In April 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of State notified all counties of a Dec. 30, 2019 deadline to select a new voting system that provides a voter verified paper record.

The County’s Board of Elections, Delaware County Council and the County’s Executive Director began researching new voting systems in 2017 to identify systems that meet the new federal and state requirements.

In Pennsylvania, every voting system and paper ballot must include plain text that voters can read to verify their choices before casting their ballot.

Election officials will also use the plain text to perform pre-election testing and post-election audits and recounts.

The five systems being considered are:  Clear Ballot, Dominion Voting, ES&S Election Systems & Software, HART Intercivic, and Unisyn.

Each of the systems was displayed at a public demonstration on June 6. Delaware County plans to have a contract in place with a vendor by the last quarter of 2019.

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