May 10, 2016 3 min read

The April 28 editorial and a recent letter to the editor in the Observer-Reporter about the way the primary election was conducted in Washington County has compelled me to respond.

I suspect there is a misunderstanding at the newspaper about who works for whom in the elections process.

The majority of our election workers are elected, including constables. Therefore, they are technically answerable to their constituents only. This office trains them and informs them fully of their duties, but has no true authority over them. In fact, the Court of Common Pleas can only declare an elected poll worker disqualified; they do not have the outright authority to remove them from office.

Even though that is the case, any time we are made aware of impropriety at a polling place it is immediately rectified.

The editorial also asserted that the elections staff should visit more polling places throughout the day. That is easier said than done. Washington County covers over 860 square miles and has 176 precincts located in 167 different locations. This office employs 18 rovers assigned to a certain number of polling places. They are directed to troubleshoot any machine problems, pass messages, and to ensure proper decorum is adhered to. Every polling location is visited more than once.

Furthermore, on the day of the primary election, the office fielded 851 phone calls with an average duration of over two minutes. That comes to more than 50 calls per hour and a total nearly 29 hours worth of calls.

As to the supplemental ballot for U.S. senator on the Democratic ballot, our office was forced by an extremely late state Supreme Court decision to utilize this extraordinary measure. This was publicized with at least two articles in the newspaper prior to Election Day.

If the Observer-Reporter truly wants to help the process, it should turn its attention to the General Assembly. Legislation is what is needed to fix the systemic problems the entire state faces with the conduct of elections. The current system the counties in this state are forced to function under was established in 1937 and has seen virtually no change since. Things have changed considerably since 1937 and our election code should reflect these changes. There are a multitude of available technologies that make the process of delivering an election to the people more efficient and error-free than what we are currently acting under.

Wes Parry

Washington

Parry is the assistant director of elections for Washington County.