Berks County election officials had been investigating the complaints and determined some voters were confused by small boxes that appeared inside larger boxes that contained candidate names. The voters thought they had to touch the small box in the upper left corner of the larger box, which led them to touch the wrong candidate.
At an election board meeting Thursday, officials said representatives from the company that manufactures the machines told them that a software upgrade would allow the small box to be removed.
The upgrade is pending approval by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
First Assistant County Solicitor Cody Kauffman said representatives from Election Systems & Software are expecting the upgrade will be certified by the state soon and be ready to install sometime in February. He said that should give election workers plenty of time to familiarize themselves with the upgrade.
"This is something that we took seriously and followed up on," he said. "And we are glad that this upgrade will allow us to remove those little boxes to address those voter selection issues."
New leadership
At the start of the meeting Thursday, Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt issued his resignation as chairman of the elections board effectively immediately given his impending transition to the position of chief operations officer for the county.
His selection to the post was announced by county officials this week.
Barnhardt's hiring was in preparation of the impending retirement of longtime county employee Ronald Seaman, who informed the commissioners this spring that he plans to leave his post in early 2023. Barnhardt will begin in his new role Jan. 9.
The commissioners then elected Commissioner Michael Rivera to serve as the new chairman, and Christian Leinbach was tapped to serve as vice chairman.
Rivera thanked Barnhardt for his more than 12 years of service as the chairman of the elections board. He said that in his new role Barnhardt will be able to draw on that experience as he works to strengthen the election services office.
"It's good to know that Commissioner Barnhardt will still be engaged with elections as the chief operations officer," he said.
Rivera added that Barnhardt's election knowledge will be particularly important next year when he and Leinbach have to temporarily step down from the board because they will both be running for reelection. A panel of three county judges serve as the board in years when the commissioners are on the ballot.
© 2022 the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
