In the wake the FBI's contention that Russian hackers targeted the voting systems of 21 states in the 2016 election, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is extending his audit of Pennsylvania's voting system.

“Based on the indictments unveiled last week against Russians who conspired to interfere with our 2016 election and revelations that stolen material about election candidates was distributed in Pennsylvania and other states, I am expanding the scope of my audit outreach to protect Pennsylvania's election system,” DePasquale said in a Tuesday news conference streamed on social media.

DePasquale pointed to the state of Maryland, where the FBI discovered that Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin is the largest investor in ByteGrid, the company that manages Maryland's voter registration system.

“Pennsylvania is currently reviewing options to modernize its election systems, and I want to ensure that any system Pennsylvania may use now and in the future is wholly owned, controlled and managed by a firm with American interests,” DePasquale said.

He said the audit will include random county checks to ensure security systems are in place in Pennsylvania's counties.

Butler County Bureau of Elections Director Shari Brewer said she is open to any scrutiny.

“Everything we do is pretty much transparent,” Brewer said. “If we are doing something wrong, fine. Tell us so we can correct it.”

She said DePasquale does not have the jurisdiction to make any changes to the voting systems in the counties.

“He's the auditor general,” Brewer said. “The lawmakers have to do that.”

She said state officials, in an attempt to bolster voting security, have ordered that all counties have a signed contract by the end of 2019 with a company that provides voting systems with a paper ballot or paper receipt system.

She and the county commissioners have heard presentations from four voting system purveyors, the most recent last week.

Brewer and her staff have compiled reports on each purveyor and will share them with the commissioners in the near future.

The commissioners will then choose a voting system that complies with the state mandate and is the best fit for the county.

The catch, said Brewer, is that according to the state mandate, each company that provides voting systems must be certified by the state.

Only one company so far has been certified in Harrisburg.

“Shame on the state, because why make a directive when you didn't have systems certified to choose from?” Brewer said.

She said the electronic voting system now used by the county is unhackable because it is never connected to the Internet.

The estimated cost for the county to buy a machine that would print voting receipts using the current system is about $6 million, Brewer said.

Buying a new paper-ballot system would be $1 million for the voting machines, but the purchase of paper, printing and accessories like privacy booths would significantly increase that cost, she said.

While DePasquale feels President Donald Trump's “embarrassing display” in Helsinki, in which the president cast aspersions on the FBI's capability, behooves the states to ensure their own voting systems are secure, Brewer is skeptical.

“I realize that people think there is a security problem, but I think there's more hype to it than really a problem,” she said. “That's just my opinion.”

She said those who push for voting systems that produce a paper trail to prevent hacking makes the hype worse by inflating people's fears.

“If they really want to increase security, they should change the way we administrate elections so we can do this more efficiently,” Brewer said.

She explained that in Pennsylvania, every municipality must have a voting precinct where residents go to vote during an election.

That means the county's 89 municipalities must each have a precinct for primary and general elections.

Cherry Valley in the northern part of the county has fewer than 50 voters, and far fewer than that turn out.

“One (municipality) in Lawrence County has nine registered voters,” Brewer said.

She advocates the inception of voting centers, where one precinct would be set up that voters could access from several municipalities in a region of the county.

“It would be much easier to do voting centers than 89 polls in the county,” Brewer said.

Meanwhile, DePasquale's new audit outreach will enhance the recommendations in his June audit to evaluate the integrity and security of the state's voting system.

The June audit was initiated in part as a result of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's confirmation that Pennsylvania was one of 21 states Russian hackers targeted.

DePasquale said Pennsylvania's system was not hacked, according to Homeland Security.