Westmoreland commissioners continue search for election bureau director

Westmoreland commissioners said they plan to have a new election bureau director in place before voters go to the polls in just over two months.

The bureau’s top job been vacant since mid June, when commissioners fired director JoAnn Sebastiani after 10 months in the position, during which she oversaw two election cycles.

“The plan is to make sure we have a full compliment of directors and managers in the election bureau,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

Since June, the election bureau has been run by Scott Ross, the director of the county’s information systems department, and Greg McCloskey, who heads to the county’s public works department. Ross was installed to oversee the election bureau as part of a reorganization that put the office’s functions under the county’s computer operations umbrella. McCloskey was reassigned to the elections office before the May primary to serve as Sebastiani’s temporary deputy and was asked to return to the bureau on an interim basis after she was fired.

Sebastiani this week filed a federal lawsuit against the county and all three commissioners in which she claims she was subjected to harassment, scapegoated for office failures, berated by county leaders and fired in part as retaliation after she said she was forced to change her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

Before Sebastiani’s termination, the election bureau operated without a deputy. Commissioners never hired a replacement after the office’s deputy was fired in October and remained vacant until the commissioners abolished the position as part of a reorganization in June which created four middle manager jobs.

Three new jobs have been filled, and a quality assurance manager position remains vacant, Ross said.

Interviews have been held with candidates for the director’s job and at least one more is scheduled next week, said Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher.

Meanwhile, election bureau staffers continue to prepare for the general election.

Commissioners this week approved a $50,000 contract with William Penn Printing for sample and provisional ballots to will be used at the polls on Election Day.

Ross said mail-in ballots for the fall election are not expected to be sent to voters until at least late September.

More than 13,200 voters cast ballots through the mail in the May primary. Nearly 60,000 county voters returned mail-in ballots in the November 2020 presidential election.