Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called out officials from 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties for accepting items from vendors competing to sell them new voting equipment in time for the 2020 election.

Bucks County officials were on the list of public servants who accepted gifts from companies, although what they received was much less lavish than gifts doled out to officials in other counties.

“As Pennsylvania counties chose new voting equipment, I want them to make decisions based on the best interests of voters – and no other factors,” DePasquale said. “Even if the value of those gifts is below the legal threshold for reporting them, simply accepting them smacks of impropriety.”

The auditor general told reporters at a Friday press conferencing that his goal was to make sure the selection process of purchasing new voting machines was aboveboard.

While county officials are held to their own local ethics rules, county elections directors also have to follow Pennsylvania ethic rules under a 1991 ruling, the auditor general’s office noted.

“Even if this activity was permitted under the law, county officials who are making decisions about spending taxpayer dollars should not accept anything of value from the companies that are asking for their business,” DePasquale said. “It’s not only about the need for officials to follow the letter and the spirit of the law; it’s about preserving the integrity of their role in the democratic process.”

Katie M. Pliszka, assistant director of the Bucks County Board of Elections, wrote in a letter to DePasquale’s office earlier this month that county officials had accepted an $8.05 promotional folding chair from vendor Electec. She also shared, although it was not requested by the auditor general’s staff, that county officials had attended a dinner held by Electec, a buffet lunch sponsored by Election Systems and Software, and accepted from Dominion several $1.75 fares for the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh during a conference last summer.

Additionally, Pliszka wrote in her letter to state officials that two unknown vendors paid for meals for county staff in 2017.

Bucks County officials and the commissioners declined comment to LevittownNow.com about the gifts.

The gifts Bucks County officials accepted were nowhere close to those accepted by some officials in other counties. Some of those gifts reported to auditor general investigators included expense-paid travel to destinations including Las Vegas; tickets to a wine festival and a distillery tour; dinners at high-end restaurants and other meals; an open bar at a conference for elections officials; tickets to an amusement park; and an assortment of treats such as chocolate-covered pretzels, snacks and coffee.

“It doesn’t matter if the gifts were large or small – my problem is the fact that anyone accepted them, period,” DePasquale said. “I’ll be referring my findings to the state Ethics Commission for further review.”

DePasquale’s investigation was kicked off in December after it was reported Luzerne County’s director of elections accepted trips from the voting machine and electronic poll book supplier.

As part of the probe by the auditor general’s office, DePasquale requested all 67 counties to report any accepted gifts or trips from voting equipment vendors.

DePasquale also raised concerns about the process that led to Philadelphia choosing vendor Election Systems and Software for $50 million earlier this week.

“I urge City Council to carefully review the commission’s action,” he said.

As part of a Pennsylvania Department of State announcement, all counties in the state have to select new voting systems that feature a paper record for more accurate audits before the close of 2019. The new systems need to be in use by the 2020 primary election. Statewide, the costs for the counties could total as high as $150 million, producing a boost for voting equipment companies.

Related to elections, DePasquale has launched a review of the state’s Uniform Registry of Electors after it came out that federal law authorities discovered that Pennsylvania was targeted for hacking by operatives connected to the Russian government in 2016.

A list of gifts accepted by county officials outside of Bucks County: