But before the ink is dry, two bills circulating at the Capitol in Harrisburg may require immediate upgrades in the county’s machines.

The Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee will hold hearings next month on a bill that amends the state’s election code to require a voter-verified paper record of each vote.

A similar House bill, introduced by Rep. Dan Frankel, a Democrat from Allegheny, would give anyone who votes on an electronic machine in Pennsylvania the right to inspect the paper record of his or her vote and correct mistakes.

Currently, voter-verified paper trails are not allowed in Pennsylvania, because state officials are concerned voters’ “receipts” may be taken from a polling place.

Both the house and senate bills have bi-partisan support from Lancaster legislators.

State Sen. Noah W. Wenger, a Republican from Stevens, is a co-sponsor of the senate bill that would require a voter-verified paper trail.

Rep. Michael Sturla Democrat from Lancaster City is a co-sponsor of the House bill that would do the same.

The ad hoc committee devoted to bringing new voting machines to Lancaster worked under the assumption that the voter-verified paper trails are illegal.

But the proposed legislation may not require drastic changes to Lancaster’s chosen fleet of machines: the electronic touch-pad “eSlate” and the optical scan “eScan.”

Under the Senate bill’s proposed update of the state election code, “a paper ballot prepared by the voter for the purpose of being read by an optical scanner” is acceptable. The “eScan” meets that definition.

And the vendor, Texas-based Hart InterCivic, can provide additional devices to their “eSlate” machines that produce the paper records for voters, according to Mary Stehman, Lancaster County’s chief clerk of elections. She said she did not know how much the devices would cost.

Under the county’s present estimated arrangement, Hart would provide 275 “eSlate” machines and 275 “eScan” machines, as well as training, software and ballot-printing for $3.7 million. Approximately $2.4 million of that total will be covered by a federal grant.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, requires all municipalities to provide voting machines that are accessible to disabled voters and capable of providing manual audits of election returns.

To qualify for those funds, by Dec. 31, the county had to reach an agreement with a vendor to provide new, compliant machines.

Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Department of State eased that deadline by asking counties merely to affirm their intention to comply with HAVA by Dec. 31.

“A lot of (counties) feel they are under the crunch. Maybe this will give them a little more wiggle room,” said Brian McDonald, a spokesman for the Department of State.

Still, all counties must have the new machines in for the May 16, 2006 elections. With only two vendors fully certified by the state, county officials here worry that the certified vendors will not be able to meet all of their orders.

In addition, to ensure a smooth election with the new machines, poll workers must be taught how to use them and the public must be made comfortable with the technology.

Wenger said he “realizes that deadlines are coming” but that “getting a consensus in a state with the diversity of Pennsylvania is difficult.”

Sturla said that even if paper-trail devices are expensive, “Quite frankly, I think it’s worth the money,” he said.

“When you read the stories about the fraud and abuse in the machines in Ohio that have been demonstrated to be able to be rigged, it would be really nice to have a paper trail,” Sturla said.