To the Editor:

     At the regular Bucks County commissioners meeting last week, all I heard was a continuing dialogue of frustration over the ongoing issue of voting machines.  One side is being challenged by the other side to make the right choice. What I don’t hear is agreement to cooperate in confronting a problem that needs to be dealt with soon. 

     Individual county residents and members of the Coalition for Voting Integrity don't seem to trust the commissioners to make the right choice, especially since there is over $3 million at stake in the form of a government grant toward the purchase of replacement machines.  The commissioners are saying they want to make the right choice but won’t reveal it so they don’t lose bargaining/negotiating chips with the manufacturers. What we seem to have is an apparent unwillingness by the commissioners to stand up for the voters of Bucks County and perhaps even to join the coalition in challenging the whole approval process. This could save the commissioners considerable embarrassment in being held accountable for spending $3.1million on machines that are defective from the start. 

     Why, then, are we such adversaries?  Or is this the real reason we need to have machines capable of verifying our votes? Hot political issues need to be settled through an accurate vote.  Where are we without a trustworthy voting process?  This is what is at stake.

Alex Sickert

Doylestown