At a special meeting Monday, county council approved the purchase of the system from Runbeck Election Services.
At that meeting, McBride said council's urgent approval was needed to allow enough time for the bureau to receive and install the system and train staff members in its use prior to the Nov. 8 general election.
The system will arrive the week of Sept. 19, McBride said Thursday. She said seven people will be trained in its use: herself, elections operator Emily Cook, the four administrative assistants in the election bureau and one information technology employee assigned to work in the bureau.
Also, McBride said she negotiated a revised contract with Runbeck.
The contract council approved totaled $490,500. It stipulated $315,500 for the purchase of the ballot-sorting system, as well as $35,000 per year from 2023 to 2027 for a licensing and service agreement.
The revised contract allows the county to decide each year whether to agree to the annual licensing and service agreements, from 2024 through 2027, McBride said.
That addresses a concern raised by some of the five council members who voted against the purchase of the system, McBride said. They worried state lawmakers might someday eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting, leaving the county stuck with a ballot-sorting system that served no purpose.
McBride said she considered council's concerns as she discussed the contract revision with Runbeck.
She addressed another concern raised Monday: Why did Luzerne County pay more money for a Runbeck system than Lehigh County, which has a larger population?
The answer is the number of municipalities and voting precincts in Luzerne County, McBride said.
With 76 of the former and 186 of the latter, Luzerne County requires a system with more "pockets" in which to sort ballots, she said.
By contrast, Lehigh County has just 25 municipalities despite its larger population.
McBride said she does not think council approval is required for the revised contract with Runbeck.
The Runbeck system automatically prints time and date on ballot envelopes, scans voter barcodes and captures images of envelopes, gives voters credit in the election bureau's voter database, generates reports, sorts envelopes by exceptions and detects ballot thickness to determine if a ballot is missing a secrecy envelope.
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