Montgomery County could replace its voting equipment with scanners that count ballots six times faster, Elections Director Frank Dean told commissioners at an Oct. 15 meeting.

The county's contract with Denver-based Liberty Vote expires at the end of 2026, Dean said. His office has researched five companies that operate in Pennsylvania and identified Omaha-based Election Systems & Software (ES&S) as a leading alternative, Main Line Media News reported. The equipment change would affect how ballots are counted across the county, including in Lower Merion Township.

The speed difference is stark. Current scanners process about 1,000 to 1,200 ballots per hour, Dean said. ES&S scanners handle 6,000 to 7,000 on the low end.

Commissioner Tom DiBello called the gap a "big significant difference in timing" for high-turnout elections.

No decision has been made. Dean called the review "exploratory in nature only" and said any switch would require a public vote by the board. A county spokesperson said commissioners would not be expected to vote on the matter until an election board meeting in November.

The change would not affect the Nov. 3 general election.

Dean said the current system relies on preprinted ballots and creates waste. He described ES&S as a broader replacement with digital capabilities and faster scanning. The cost has not been disclosed.

Write-in ballots are a particular bottleneck. Dean said high-turnout elections can produce 50,000 to 70,000 write-in votes, requiring 10 to 20 bipartisan teams working seven days a week for two to three weeks. ES&S equipment would let workers view all write-in images at once and assign them to candidates by tapping a screen, rather than processing them one at a time.

Liberty Vote serves 12 Pennsylvania counties. ES&S serves 39, including Allegheny County, which Election Board Chair Neil Makhija noted tends to report results the fastest.

Commissioners' Chair Jamila Winder thanked Dean for the research and said the county needs to keep innovating to deliver "free, fair elections in Montgomery County."

Liberty Vote is the rebranded name of Dominion Voting Systems, which was acquired in October 2025 by former Republican election official Scott Leiendecker, as Spotlight PA reported at the time.

Election deadlines and satellite offices

Monday, Oct. 19, is the deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election. The county had 626,419 registered voters as of Oct. 12, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Makhija said more than 106,000 mail-in ballots have been sent to county voters, and 60,000 have already been returned. He added that 251 ballots have gone through a new automatic ballot curing process, which sends replacement ballots to voters who may have had errors on their originals.

Voters who want to request a mail-in ballot must do so by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. All ballots must be returned by the time polls close on Election Day.

The county will operate satellite voter services offices from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25, at five locations. The Lower Merion site is at the Lower Merion Magisterial District Courts, 925 Montgomery Ave. in Narberth.

Makhija recommended voters use one of 18 drop boxes across the county to return ballots. "The fastest way to return your ballot is to a drop box which is directly to the county," he said. "You don't have to worry about any mail delays."

The Montgomery County Office of Voter Services is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays at One Montgomery Plaza, 425 Swede St., sixth floor, in Norristown.