Below is a factual summary based on the available source data:

Auditor General Report Reveals County Officials Accepted Gifts from Voting Machine Vendors

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale reported in February 2019 that officials in 18 of the state's 67 counties accepted gifts, meals, and trips from voting equipment vendors competing to sell new machines ahead of the 2020 elections. The auditor emphasized that while accepting these gifts was technically legal, it was inappropriate and could potentially influence purchasing decisions.

The reported gifts included expense-paid travel to destinations such as Las Vegas, tickets to wine festivals and private distillery tours, dinners at high-end restaurants, amusement park tickets, and even promotional items like folding chairs, doughnuts, and candy. The auditor noted that some gifts ranged from simple coffee or doughnuts to lobster dinners, expressing particular concern that entertainment such as wine tours had no reasonable connection to evaluating voting system quality.

Specific examples mentioned in the reports include Luzerne County's Election Director Marissa Crispell accepting two trips to advisory board meetings from a vendor selected to sell equipment to the county, with each trip costing nearly $1,200. The county's legal office responded that the voting machines were purchased before Crispell was hired and her advisory board participation ended before the selection of electronic poll books.

The auditor referenced Governor Tom Wolf's gift ban for executive branch employees and suggested that such bans should be considered at the county level as well. DePasquale referred potential disclosure violations to the State Ethics Commission for review, noting he believed some recipients may not have reported the gifts as required under state ethics laws.

The context for this report involved Pennsylvania's transition to new voting machines with paper record capabilities, with counties required to make the switch by the end of 2019 following state and Homeland Security approval due to security concerns.

Sources

1. PA Auditor Says Officials Took Voting Machine Vendors Freebies
2. Auditor General: Local Counties Took Freebies from Election Machine Vendors
3. Auditor General Says County Officials Did Nothing Illegal
4. Audit Says Officials Took Freebies from Voting Machine Firms
5. Audit Finds PA Officials Took Freebies from Voting Machine Firms
6. DePasquale Seeks Gift Ban After Finding 18 Counties Accepted Gifts from Voting Machine Vendors