Changes by the state to the Election Code are not expected to carry significant downstream effects for Warren County.

House Bill 1614 and Senate Bill 982 were signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf last week.

The House bill was unanimously approved by the General Assembly. It will bring additional printing burdens to the county as the county will have to provide each precinct with specific numbers of printed ballots.

For a primary that total is 50% of the total number of registered voters minus those who have requested absentee or mail-in.

For general elections, that number rises to 100% of the total number of registered voters.

“In black and white text it seems like a bad idea,” Warren County Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said, suggesting it is at least partially an unfunded mandate. “Why do we even have machines?”

The second measure, SB 982, was approved on much more partisan lines with both Rep. Kathy Rapp and state senators Scott Hutchinson and Michele Brooks, who co-sponsored the provision, voting in the affirmative.

Senators in a sponsorship memo state that the purpose of the legislation is to “ban third-party entities from funding election operations at any level within our Commonwealth.”

They specifically identify funding from Center for Tech and Civic Life, ‘Zuckerbucks’ given the large donation to the organization by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, that was given to municipalities to conduct elections.

The language from the bill states that the “cost and expense” to conduct elections “shall by funded only upon lawful appropriation” of a governmental entity and that the funding can only come from “taxes, fees and other sources of public revenue.”

The legislation creates the “Election Integrity Grant Program” to help counties off-set some of those costs.

Funds will be awarded based on population for several different eligible uses including paying staff, transportation and “physical security and transparency” for the pre-canvassing and canvassing processes.

There are some strings for counties that want the funds: A requirement to start pre-canvassing at 7 a.m. on election day and start counting those ballots at 8 p.m. “without interruption until each ballot has been canvassed.” The legislation requires counties to post unofficial numbers “no later than 12:01 a.m. on the day following the election” among other provisions.

Counties will also be required to submit a report after the election with a litany of data and process information

Kafferlin called the funding a “carrot from the state to get counties to comply.

“Warren County pretty much already does this,” he said of the requirements. “(It’s) not a big deal to us because we can complete that anyway…. It may lead to some revenue for us.”