2007 News

July 10, 2007

Commissioners Donate Lever Voting Machine to Mercer Museum & Bucks County Historical Society
Afternoon Ceremony Preserves a Significant Piece of County Election Lore

From Left: Douglas Dolan, President and Executive Director-Mercer Museum; Commissioner James F. Cawley, Esq.; Commissioner Sandra A. Miller; and Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin

In an effort to help the Mercer Museum preserve a unique part of Bucks County’s proud voting history, the Board of Bucks County Commissioners today donated an Eisenhower-era lever voting machine to the museum and the Bucks County Historical Society.

“Although the lever machines are no longer in use following the 2002 Help America Vote Act, they served Bucks County residents faithfully for a half century,” said Charles H. Martin, chairman of the commissioners’ board.  “I hope it becomes an interesting stop among all the fascinating exhibits at the Mercer Museum for generations to come.”  Martin was joined at the museum by his fellow commissioners, James F. Cawley and Sandra A. Miller.

The machine will become part of an exhibit at the Mercer Museum, which is a key partner in collecting artifacts and documents that preserve the county’s history.  Several schools including Delaware Valley College have also taken the county up on its donation offer.  Additional machines have been sold to New York counties still using the machines.

“Since its inception, the Bucks County Historical Society has been the primary keeper of our collective community memory,” noted Douglas C. Dolan, president and executive director of the Mercer Museum. “Doylestown’s Mercer Museum and Spruance Library also have served as the official repository for county records and documents dating from the earliest founding of Bucks County through today.”

Dolan credited the commissioners for their vision in making the voting-machine donation, adding, “We are pleased to have this important artifact so that our children’s children and all who follow will have a better sense of what life was like in the 20th century. In the near future, we hope to expand the exhibition facilities at the Mercer Museum so that we can better present the full story of our past in all its richness.”

For more information about the Mercer Museum and the Bucks County Historical Society, visit www.mercermuseum.org

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