State reimburses Westmoreland for some voting machine expenses, talks to start Friday on finding next elections bureau head
Westmoreland County received a $3.4 million reimbursement from the state, which covers about 60% of the costs of new elections equipment purchased over the past year.
That money, according to state guidelines, cannot be used to cover costs associated with the November presidential election, officials said.
“It will have to be set aside for future capital purchases and is not linked to elections,” said Meghan McCandless, the county’s director of financial administration.
The previous board of commissioners last year bought new touch-screen voting machines to meet a state mandate that requires all elections systems have verifiable paper trials to ensure accuracy of results. The system used in Westmoreland County since 2005 was not capable of producing paper documentation of votes.
The new system, first used during a special election in March and countywide for the spring primary in June, cost more than $5.9 million for the equipment. Another $1.3 million was spent on a 10-year maintenance agreement for that equipment, funds that were not eligible for reimbursement, McCandless said.
Commissioners this spring paid $100,000 for additional equipment to help count mail-in ballots, which were used for the first time in Pennsylvania during the primary.
About half of the 80,000 ballots cast this spring were submitted by mail. County officials expect to see more mail-in balloting this fall amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the search for a new county elections bureau director is heating up.
Commissioners said they will conduct initial interviews with some candidates on Friday and potentially more next week in an effort to replace Beth Lechman, who resigned in late July.
Commissioners on Thursday declined to discuss the specifics of Lechman’s departure but said they were confident the elections bureau will have no issues as it transitions to a new director. Deputy Director Scott Sistek, who was moved to the elections bureau in May, was named interim director.
“The elections bureau is more than just one person,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.
Applications for the job are due by Saturday.
Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.