Nov 28, 2014 4 min read

With an arctic blast whipsawing its way through Washington County last week, Assistant Elections Director Wes Parry found himself on a frigid ridge in East Finley Township complying with provisions of the state’s Election Code of 1937.

The law states any consolidation of election precincts must be publicly posted in five prominent places at least 10 days before a court hearing. Once Parry placed laminated notices on polling sites at Roadside Chapel and the township building, which will likely be designated as the lone site, he was literally looking for fence posts.

“I was the only one out that day,” Parry said later from the much warmer confines of his office in Courthouse Square.

In this case, the matter of precinct consolidation is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Washington County Court. No objections to changes in 16 precincts were on file with the case as docketed in the prothonotary’s office, so the last opportunity for someone to speak up will be at the time and date of the hearing. If approved as presented, the county’s 184 precincts will drop to 176.

In Bentleyville, for example, which has 1,492 active registered voters, “turnout in both of these precincts had declined precipitously over the last decade. The combined average voter turn-out for the last four general elections has been 596 electors. If the spike in turnout (during) a presidential year (2012) is removed, the average for the past three elections has been 492,” the board of elections petition, filed in mid-October, states.

“The two precincts currently, and for the past several elections, have polled at the same location, with an ad hoc combined ‘board of election.’ Poll workers in Bentleyville serve double duty, working for both precincts simultaneously because the precincts are unable to meet the statutory requirement of five poll workers per precinct.”

All Bentleyville residents vote at the borough building, 900 Main St., and, if the plan is approved by the court, this would remain the same.

A similar, but not identical, situation exists in East Washington Borough, where 1,327 active registered voters could head to First Christian Church, 615 E. Beau St., on Election Day. Unlike Bentleyville, East Washingtonians are eager to man the local election boards, and residents file as candidates to run for judge of elections, Parry said, but turnout averages just 451 in years when President of the United States is not on the ballot.

In Washington’s 7th Ward, which has 468 registered voters in Precinct 2 and 707 in Precinct 4, the average turnout in nonpresidential years is 270. “The Washington County Board of Elections has ongoing struggles to find and fill two complete boards of election. In recent elections, family members of elections’ office employees have been pressed into service to assist on election day,” the petition states. “The board of elections has not been able to regularly meet the statutory guideline of 10 workers, five per board.” Fourth Presbyterian Church, 100 Jefferson Ave., would remain as the polling place for the proposed consolidated precinct.

Other consolidations are planned for North Bethlehem Township and North Charleroi Borough and in two precincts apiece in the multiprecinct Chartiers Township and Charleroi Borough before the 2015 primary election.

The motive behind the change is to reduce the cost of deploying duplicate election boards, reducing the number of people needed to fill them, the number of voting machines in service and the cost to the taxpayer.

In Charleroi, voters in Precinct 1 would no longer go to the senior center, but to the Char House apartments, which is the polling place for Precinct 4.

If the court approves the plan, voters will be issued registration cards with new designations.

There are currently 184 voting precincts in Washington County, down from 205 in the 20th century.

The “active registered voters” referred to in the petition includes those who have voted within the last five years.

Attempting to determine if inactive voters wanted to remain on the rolls before the Nov. 4 election generated almost 8,000 letters in Washington County alone. Parry said “a ton” are sent back marked by the postal service as “unable to deliver” because people have moved. Those interested in remaining on the voter rolls merely have to respond to the letter.

When changing addresses, almost no one has on his or her to-do list, “notify elections office,” so less than up-to-date information languishes in the database. Inactives can’t be removed from the rolls for another two federal general elections, which occur in even-numbered years.

“They just let it go,” Parry said, adding he’d like to see people have to renew voter’s registration just like they do a driver’s license, and that ability to renew online would add a new dimension to the election code.