Indiana County Commissioners made another upgrade to their election equipment at their meeting this morning.
The commissioners approved the purchase of a digital image scanner for the courthouse at a cost of $53,975. The money for the scanner will come from both a transfer of about $21,000 from the election funds to the general budget and the rest will be covered by grant funding. The new scanner will make sure the county is ready for mail-in ballots as part of Pennsylvania Act 77, which allows people to register for a ballot that can be mailed in instead of heading to the polls. Absentee ballots will still be collected, but the mail-in ballot can be used by anyone in the voting precinct for any reason.
Also, the county approved revising their application for the Grant for Election Modernization and Security program, better known as GEMS. County Commissioner Sherene Hess said that this issue is one that’s very important.
Indiana County is applying for a 60 percent match to cover all the recent upgrades to the election systems, which total $695,162.
In other business, the commissioners approved applying for PCORP grant that will build a sidewalk in Smicksburg that goes to the former election house as a safety measure. The commissioners also approved three change orders for the Alice Paul House project to create additional office space above the garage area.
