Does anyone remember the Chrysler K-car? Not the K-cup. The K-car. The series of mid-size autos, all built on the same chassis in the 1980s, in response to caravans of Japanese and European compact imports invading the U.S. market as the OPEC oil embargo sparked fuel shortages and spiked gasoline prices.

The K-car line included the Plymouth Reliant, Volare and Horizon along with the Dodge Aries, Aspen and Omni. All were front-wheel-drive, solid, boxy and practical — cheap to buy and operate. They were not luxurious or particularly comfortable. They were not “sporty.”

Chrysler sold a lot of K-cars, more than 300,000 a year from 1981 to 1988. That doesn’t mean the American driver had much love for them. They were simply accepted as good enough to tide us through a tough economic time.

You don’t see many K-cars at classic auto shows these days. The cars you do see at auto shows are more consistent with common American values — big, strong, well-built, comfortable, flashy and luxurious.

We mention this out of concern that the election system being assembled for Butler County’s future is beginning to resemble a K-car. County and state officials are replacing the voting machines. They say it’s to remove any shred of doubt as to the system’s security and immunity to tampering.

That’s all well and good. After two years of investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and confirmed instances of illegal “motor voter” registrations of non-citizen aliens in Pennsylvania, we should redouble our efforts and our focus to protect the electoral system from any tampering or appearance of tampering.

But there are side-issues creeping in and threatening to distract attention from this primary objective — issues like expense and shortage of workers at some rural polling sites.

Last week, county Elections Director Shari Brewer showed how the county might cut the price of its polling machines from the original estimate of $6 million to $8 million down to as low as $1 million.

The original plan was to replace 600 existing, computer-based polling machines with similar units that are capable of producing a printed paper receipt. Now, Brewer says, it would be much cheaper to switch to an all-paper-ballot system with a scanner-printer at each polling place.

Maybe she’s right, maybe not. That’s why the county commissioners want poll workers to try out the devices before they commit to buying any.

Therein lies a potential problem. Brewer said the commissioners hope to have a voting system purchased by the beginning of March for implementation in the November general election. The impetus is threefold: state-federal pressure; prospect of financial assistance; and the existing voter machines are reaching the end of their usefulness.

Brewer advised the commissioners many factors have to be considered in replacing the voter machines. “They have to do what the county and the taxpayers can afford, so a lot of things come into play,” Brewer said.

That’s true — and a lot to consider in 10 days — while fixed on the main thing: the integrity of our electoral process.