Rookie Westmoreland County election director suspended with pay

The Westmoreland County commissioners suspended with pay the woman they hired less than a year ago to run the county election bureau.

Records obtained Wednesday by the Tribune-Review indicate bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani was suspended Tuesday and will continue to be off the job through Friday.

No reason was given for the suspension.

Commissioner Doug Chew declined to comment and would not confirm that Sebastiani was suspended. Commissioner Sean Kertes did not respond to a request for comment. Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher referred all questions to the county solicitor.

“We can’t talk about personnel issues,” county solicitor Melissa Guiddy said.

All three commissioners signed an action form authorizing Sebastiani’s suspension.

Sebastiani, 63, was named director in August after the resignation of department head Beth Lechman.

Sebastiani declined to comment.

Sebastiani previously worked as a deputy director in the county tax office. In her new role, she was charged with coordinating a high-turnout presidential election in which no-excuse mail-in balloting and new voting equipment were used for the first time amid an ongoing pandemic.

In October, commissioners fired the election bureau’s deputy director. That position has not been filled.

Commissioners defended Sebastiani last fall as printing and mailing delays for mail-in ballots continued in the weeks that led up to the election.

Meanwhile, vote counting was slowed as coronavirus spread among election bureau staff.

Spring primary problems

Issues continued this spring as staff turnover dramatically reduced the number of election bureau employees who worked to run the May primary.

Other problems included a district judge race being left off mail-in ballots issued to voters in four Mt. Pleasant precincts, and a Southmoreland school board seat did not appear on ballots.

This week, the commissioners said write-in winners in 14 races were not included among final results, causing certification of those primaries to be delayed until next week.

Commissioners have never publicly blamed Sebastiani for any of the missteps or for staff departures.

A few days before the primary, commissioners assigned Public Works Director Greg McCloskey to temporarily serve as Sebastiani’s deputy.

McCloskey on Wednesday appeared to be in charge of election bureau operations and referred all questions to county commissioners.