Employees at the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau and others who helped with the election this month are set to get about a month’s worth of hazard pay.

The county commissioners on Tuesday approved the move that will be effective for 65 employees from Oct. 28 to Monday.

Bureau director JoAnn Sebastiani commended employees for their hard work handling thousands of mail-in ballots during a presidential election amid a coronavirus outbreak in the department. They worked through a power outage at the courthouse the day before the election.

“The days were very hectic, very busy,” she said. “We were working 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s what we needed to do, it’s what was required to get through the election.”

The county elections board certified the results of the Nov. 3 election on Monday, except for several hundred ballots that are the subject of legal challenges.

A bureau employee tested positive for the virus days before the election and several others were off the job in the weeks afterward as it spread. Employees were deemed essential workers and were permitted to continue the job in advance of Monday’s deadline to certify the results.

A couple elections bureau workers involved with the outbreak are still off work.

The staffers who helped with the election will get time-and-a-half for the hours they worked during that period, said Commissioner Gina Cerilli.

That will include employees from other departments such as the treasurer’s office and records management.

“We went through all the ups and downs together,” Sebastiani said. “No one lost their focus.”

3,700 ballots remain

There is still work remaining, albeit on a much smaller scale. Sebastiani said there are 3,700 provisional ballots that are remaining to be added to the county’s results. Those ballots are subject to legal challenges and cannot be processed until after the elections board approves a final certification next week.

Some of those ballots were cast in the 45th District race for state Senate between Democratic incumbent Sen. Jim Brewster and Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli. Each ballot is being scrutinized in that race because the vote totals are close and the campaigns are looking to the courts. The district straddles Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

Other ballots that were received after the 8 p.m. deadline on Election Day are also included in that total.

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