The next major election is still more than a year away, but voters in Centre County have already been voicing concerns about the voting machines used in Pennsylvania.

Last week, Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes visited the Nittany Lion Inn to deliver a presentation about voting history as part of the Faculty Staff Club speaker series.

After the event, he met privately with the Concerned Voters of Centre County, a nonpartisan group that presented Cortes with a petition of more than 1,200 signatures collected last year during the November elections.

Chairwoman Mary Vollero said the group wants touchscreen machines to be de-certified. "Optical scan machines are more user-friendly, scanned by a machine, counted quickly, and can be recounted by hand," she said.

Current election technology requires voters to make selections on a touchscreen. The machine then records the vote electronically but returns no physical verification.

"They wanted to make me aware of their efforts, and I take great pride in being accessible to talk about a number of issues," Cortes said.

Joyce McKinley, Centre County's director of elections, said the Concerned Voters of Centre County have attended the election commissioner's meetings several times to voice their concerns. "They are adamant about the paper trails," she said. "But we have purchased the touchscreen systems, and that is what we will be using until a requirement or certification changes."

Cortes said an election reform task force ultimately found the issue so complex that it recommended it be explored further by the state.

"We need to make sure people are aware of the legal, technical, constitutional and financial requirements that need to be addressed in order to implement paper voting receipts," Cortes said.

As for the Concerned Voters of Centre County, Cortes said they will continue to work together and their concerns are not lost on him.

Vollero said she wants a new machine to be introduced by the municipal election on May 15, and the electronic system should never have been used in the first place.

Cortes said current laws neither require nor prohibit paper voting trails, but they do require secrecy.

Cortes said it is a matter of time until technology is developed so the state can provide a voter verification paper trail such as the one the Concerned Voters of Centre County are demanding. "The Department of State is open to reviewing any voting system," he said.

He said Pennsylvania elections go through a rigorous federal and state certification process.

Vollero said the machines are a big problem because people will not participate in elections if they do not trust the system. "Our democracy is worth the money," she said.