The Dominion Voting Systems model approved by the Department of State is the latest approval as counties expected to replace digital-only voting machines in time for 2020 election.

While the Department of State approved a fourth new voting machine — the one Montgomery County hopes to roll out at the polls in May — its final federal approval is tied up in the partial government shutdown.

The machine, Dominion Voting Systems' Democracy Suite 5.5-A model, creates paper copies of ballots and is part of the state's push away from digital-only ballot machines. It is one of at least five similar machines expected to be approved this year as counties update voting system before the 2020 general election, according to a department news release.

Bucks and Montgomery counties are among many jurisdictions using machines storing ballots entirely by digital memory, which former Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres said was less secure than machines that left a "paper trail."

The Montgomery County Commissioners announced a $5.8 million contract with Dominion on Dec. 13, before the company's machine received federal and state approval.

Montgomery County had set aside $8 million in 2019 to replace its 20-year-old machines with plans to roll out the new machines as early as the May primary. Officials choose Dominion from the three proposals they received.

While the machines now have state approval, Dominion still is waiting final approval from the U.S Election Assistance Commission, which has been delayed by the partial government shutdown that began over a month ago.

Wanda Murren, a Pennsylvania state department spokeswoman, said Tuesday the federal commission issued a favorable "initial certification decision" on Dec. 20.

While Dominion still will need the federal commission's final certification after the shutdown has ended, Murren said the department's attorneys affirmed the earlier decision implied the machines met federal security and other requirements.

Montgomery County Director of Communications John Corcoran on Tuesday that Solicitor Joshua Stein was currently reviewing the state's approval.

If Stein recommends against using the machines without final federal approval — and if the government shutdown continues long enough — voters in Montgomery County will use the same machines they have voted on for the past 20 years, Corcoran confirmed Tuesday.

Previously, two machines from Unisyn Voting Solutions and one from ES&S were approved, and a news release earlier this month said a total of five machines could be approved by the end of January.

"With the certification of this fourth system, we continue to give Pennsylvania county officials more options as they move to replace their voting systems," Acting Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said in the release.

Dr. Val Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, explained the new Dominion system.

“Voters will still be able to privately cast their ballot, just like the current system, and the simple paper ballot will give them the highest confidence that their votes will be accurately recorded and counted,” she said in a statement last month.

In most cases, voters will use a pen to fill out a ballot and have an opportunity to check it for accuracy before submitting it to a scanner that tabulates the votes and keeps the ballot in a secure container for audits or recounts, officials said. Each polling place will also have an ADA touchscreen machine that can be used to select candidates.

While Bucks County officials did not set aside money in 2019 specifically for new voting machines, County Commissioner Chair Robert Loughery said previously the county would perform its "due diligence" researching the costs and models of machines in 2019.

During a voting machine expo in December, Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia said the county might only have to cover 40 percent of the costs, with the remainder coming from state and federal funds.

In 2006, Bucks County spent about $4 million to upgrade its lever machines to the Danaher ELECTronic 1242, according to votespa.com. Federal funds helped defray some of the county’s costs.

Gov. Tom Wolf has asked state officials to approve funding half the costs to counties for new machines, which opponents of the changeover estimate at a cost between $110 million to $150 million.

Pennsylvania received $13.5 million of a $380 million Help America Vote Act grant award through the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in 2018, totaling around $14.15 million, including a 5 percent match from the state.

A Jan. 4 report from the state department indicates two other machines, the ClearVote 1.5 by the Clear Ballot Group and Hart Intercivic's Verity Voting 2.3, were preparing for state testing.

More information on the state’s voting machine certification process can be found at www.dos.pa.gov.