York County adds a ballot machine to prepare for general election

York County added another voting machine in advance of the 2022 general election.

The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a Dominion Voting Systems ICC scanner, which processes a variety of different types of ballots, at a cost of $18,075 on Wednesday.

According to President Commissioner Julie Wheeler, York County's totals now include 180 Election Day machines that are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, 245 other Election Day machines and six high-speed scanners. Several of the machines won't be deployed but instead will serve as backups.

"It ensures there are back-up machines available and also provides the added benefit of being able to be used for recounts," Wheeler said in a previous interview Tuesday.

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No attendee commented on the purchase at Wednesday's commissioners meeting. Elections Director Julie Haertsch was not in attendance.

Dominion Voting Systems has been the subject of controversy in the past, including false claims that the company's machines were compromised during the 2020 election.

Last month, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a report concluding that there was no evidence that Dominion voting machines were ever exploited — including during the 2020 election.

"While these vulnerabilities present risks that should be mitigated as soon as possible, CISA has no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections," the agency's advisory reads. 

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Dominion filed lawsuits against several media companies and personalities, including Newsmax, Fox News, former Donald Trump adviser Sidney Powell and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

While no one commented on the purchase itself at Wednesday's meeting, at least one commenter — Thomas Paup, of York City — raised concern about elections.

Paup's comments included urging the commissioners not to bring back the mail-in ballot drop box. 

"Once an illegal ballot is in that box, it doesn't have a sign on it saying 'I'm an illegal ballot'," Paup said.

— Reach Matt Enright via email at menright@yorkdispatch.com or via Twitter at @Matthew_Enright.