Bucks County Herald – February 9, 2006

Walter Farley Voting Machines Home Rule

Dear Friends,

Good morning. The other week, I had a reunion with former Bucks County Commissioner Walter Farley. We served together nearly 40 years ago [we were in our 30’s way back then]. Although Walter and I were from different political persuasions [he’s a Democrat], we got along very well…too well according to the chairmen of our respective political parties.

Naturally, we talked about old times but we also discussed a topic, which has hit the front burner…voting machines. Home rule also came up [more on that later].

If Bucks County doesn’t comply with the “Help America Vote Act” [HAVA] before the May primary, the county stands to lose $3 million in fed funds. Commissioner Charley Martin told me that the total cost to replace 1,000 voting machines in the county would approximate $10 million. Bucks has been using the lever machines for as long as I’ve been voting. But they don’t comply with HAVA because they don’t enable handicapped people to vote without assistance.

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, a former county commissioner, has introduced a bill, which gives Bucks more time to decide what voting machine is best. At issue is whether the replacement machines would provide a paper trail if an election were contested? The present lever machines do…but electronic machines do not…according to the Bucks County Coalition for Voting Integrity, a new community action group.

Farley joins other commissioners who believe that the only voting machine under consideration, which provides a paper trail, is an optical scan device. “The voter would mark a paper secret ballot, which would be fed into a scanner, which registers, the vote,” he said. “The voter then deposits the paper ballot into a ballot box so it can be retrieved if the votes are challenged.”

Commissioner Charley Martin told me that the county is studying several machines (including electronic devices) and will involve the League of Women Voters in the process. Stay tuned.

Walter Farley was never afraid of controversy, which I admired…still do. He still believes that Bucks County government would be improved if voters approved a home rule charter. He thinks that that the three county commissioners [two from the majority party and one from the minority party] should be replaced by a 9-person council…six from six equally populated districts and three from the county at large.

With Bucks County’s population approximating 600,000, each district would have a population of 50,000 under Walter’s plan. The Palisades, Pennridge, and Quakertown areas might illustrate his point.

Walter would continue to elect the offices of District Attorney and Comptroller but eliminate the rest of the row offices [prothonotary, clerk of sessions, register of wills, sheriff, treasurer, recorder of deeds, coroner, and the like]. He says that these offices could be administered by appointed managers instead of elected row officers. I agree with him.

But we’re at odds on the major item…a council instead of three commissioners. I like our present form because it’s easy to change the entire government every four years. If you’re not happy with how the three commissioners are running things, you get a chance to fire them…all at once!

Most of all, fewer is better than more. In my opinion, it’s a whole lot harder for three to hide than nine. What do you think?

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith

Send me your criticism or suggestions for columns at MeredithIII@comcast.net