Westmoreland hires private company to train new staff in depleted elections office

Westmoreland County will pay a private company $112,000 over the next 18 months to help oversee the next three elections as officials continue efforts to hire a new director and two middle managers in the aftermath of the problem-plagued May primary.

Officials said personnel turnover, which included the June firing of election bureau director JoAnn Sebastiani, necessitated the move to hire Election Systems & Software LLC of Nebraska to train staff and provide technical assistance ahead of and during the November general election and for the 2022 primary and general elections.

“There will be an all new staff down there,” said Scott Ross, director of the county’s information systems department, which was given oversight of the election bureau following a reorganization approved this summer by commissioners. “We have to do it right the first time so you have to train people.”

County turned over leadership of the election bureau after numerous operational and performance issues around the spring primary in which a district judge race was left off the ballot in four Mt. Pleasant precincts and a vacant seat on the Southmoreland School Board was excluded from ballots.

Other issues cited as reasons for the staff turnover included the late issuance of mail-in ballots, the delay of post-election results and confusion over an announcement of write-in winners in more than a dozen races.

Commissioners said the new deal with ES&S, which sold the county new voting machines in 2019, was part of an ongoing relationship that where the company served in similar capacity over the last year.

“This is something we’ve done in previous election cycles,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher.

Commissioners last year awarded an $86,350 contract to ES&S to test each piece of voting equipment at the county’s 307 precincts.

The company will train staff to create the ballot, test voting equipment and provide technical assistance on Election Day and in the days that follow as votes are tabulated, Ross said.

The election bureau is being run by Ross and Public Works Director Greg McCloskey, who was temporarily reassigned to the office before this year’s primary to assist Sebastiani and again after she was fired.

Interviews with candidates to fill the director’s job and other vacant posts are ongoing, Ross said.