The auditor general has identified Warren County as one of 18 counties statewide that reported receiving “gifts” from election machine companies hoping to make a deal.

The reality of the situation might not be so nefarious.

Eugene DePasquale released a statement on Friday which claimed that “officials in 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties reported accepting gifts, meals or trips from firms competing to sell new voting machines to counties ahead of the 2020 counties.”

“As Pennsylvania counties chose new voting equipment, I want them to make decisions based on the best interest 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 investigation across all 67 counties appears to have stemmed from an election director in Luzerne County accepting a trip to Las Vegas from an election machine provider.

Per the auditor general’s statement, Warren County’s self-reported items include: “At the annual election officials conference, a company associated with ES&S provides a hospitality room; vendors covered a cash bar and entertainment at a 2018 conference; Dominion and ES&S have taken conference attendees to dinner one night each year since 2013; Dominion and ES&S gave presentations with coffee and doughnuts; ES&S has sent a representative to deliver items like chocolate-covered pretzels on two occasions; at a 2017 conference, ES&S paid for some elections officials to go to an amusement park, which included entrance fee, lunch and the creation of their own candy bar.”

The letter from the county solicitor detailing “gifts” received by the county indicates that Rivett declined a wine and dine tour/dinner from one of the providers and incline rides or golf outings which have been presented at the conferences.

The county’s response also states that the conferences Rivett has attended have been hosted by the Western Pennsylvania Elections Personnel Association and a similar entity in the eastern part of the state.

“We don’t accept gifts to influence who we’re going to buy our machines from,” Warren County Elections Director Lisa Rivett told the Times Observer.

She said that “we all partake” in the hospitality room and said that the county’s current provider, Dominion, and other providers “have taken us out for dinner.”

“We don’t accept gifts. Nothing is going to influence our decision,” Rivett said, except for what’s the best financial choice and what’s best for the county’s voters.

“I have 100 percent faith in Lisa Rivett to make a decision as far as election machines go,” Commissioner Jeff Eggleston, who has taken the lead on the election machine issue, said. “No one is going to take this process more serious than her in Warren County.”

DePasquale still came out swinging.

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

In April 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of State told counties they have until the end of 2019 to select new voting systems that feature a paper record.

Per the statement from DePasquale, the state wants the new machines in place by, preferably, this fall’s general election.

A public voting system demonstration, where members of the public will be able to try the various machine options, is slated for March 14 at the Warren Public Library’s Slater Room from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.