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Residents report voter-roll and e-poll-book problems; commissioners pledge backups and review
Summary
Multiple Hatfield-area residents told the Montgomery County commissioners on July 16 that voter rolls include people who moved and that electronic poll books malfunctioned in May; commissioners said federal procedures limit roll removals and pledged continued paper backups while vendor issues are addressed.
Speakers during the public comment portion raised persistent election-administration concerns: Sandra Levine and Ginger Hoyt described examples of voters who remain listed at addresses after moving, and Michelle Angarto detailed failures in the May primary rollout of electronic poll books — including missing voter records, signature rejections, and inconsistent printing of voter slips.
"They are very outdated," said Sandra Levine of Hatfield Township, recounting encounters at a local trailer park where people she believed were no longer residents still appeared on the rolls. Ginger Hoyt gave similar on-the-ground examples and asked for a clear reporting and remediation pathway.
Michelle Angarto, who described herself as from Lower Salford, said the e-poll-book pilot suffered significant operational problems on primary day: "the e poll books were ordered to be shut off...not finding qualified voters in the electronic log book, not accepting signatures, polling place was told by voter services to abandon the e poll books altogether in less than 1 hour." She asked that the county identify root causes, test fixes in a limited environment and run paper logbooks in parallel until reliability is proven.
Commissioners acknowledged the concerns. Commissioner Veil MacKesha and others explained that federal list-maintenance rules require due-process steps (inactive status, notice, and failure to vote in subsequent general elections) before removal from voter rolls. They said the county follows established statutory and federal procedures and that suspected instances of improper voting are referred to the district attorney or attorney general as appropriate.
On e-poll books, commissioners said May was the first full rollout after multiple small pilots and that documented problems are being addressed with the vendor. "We will continue to make sure that every polling place has the paper poll books," Commissioner MacKesha said, and other commissioners reiterated that paper logs will remain available as a backup in November while technical issues are resolved.
The county did not announce a detailed timeline for further testing or vendor fixes during the meeting; officials said they are documenting issues and will continue working with vendor and election staff to ensure readiness for the general election.
