Westmoreland outsources mailing of ballots, calibration of voting machines

Westmoreland County will spend an additional $350,000 to beef up its ability to hold an election and count votes this fall.

Commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract with a private mailing company in Cleveland to send ballots to voters, and finalized a deal with the Nebraska-based firm to test touch-screen computers and scanners used to tabulate results in the Nov. 3 general election.

Officials also announced the $94,000 purchase of a fourth digital scanner to count mail-in votes.

Midwest Presort Mailing Services Inc. could be paid as much as $170,000 to send mail-in ballots to voters. Applications for ballots will be received and processed by courthouse staff in the county’s elections bureau before being emailed to the Ohio company.

“With more than 100,000 mail-in ballots expected to come in, we want to make sure everything is buttoned up,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes.

Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said the county has received about 25,000 applications for mail-in ballots. County officials said the outside mailing firm was brought in to ease some of the burden on in-house staff as they deal with other challenges related to the election.

The company is expected to send out the first batch of ballots to voters in late September.

Sebastiani said mailing lists will be sent electronically each day the company in Cleveland, which will have two days to stuff envelopes and mail ballots to voters. The company will drive ballots from its Cleveland offices to Pittsburgh each day, where they will be mailed to Westmoreland voters. Voters will mail completed ballots to the courthouse in Greensburg, where they will be securely stored until counted.

Meanwhile, commissioners awarded an $86,350 contract to Election Systems and Software to test each piece of voting equipment at the county’s 307 precincts. The county last year paid the company $7.1 million for the new machines used for the first time this spring. As part of that purchase, initial tests ahead of the June primary were included.

Tests to ensure the voting equipment is calibrated and provides accurate counts are required prior to every election.

Commissioners said the contract will provide an additional layer of oversight.

“Given that we have a new administration in the elections bureau, rather than have them do it, this company can come in and do this correctly,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli.

Officials will seek state reimbursements to cover the costs of the mailing and testing contracts as well as the additional counting device.

The county used two counters to tabulate about 40,000 mail-in ballots during the spring primary, a process that took several days after the polls closed.

With additional equipment, officials said more staff will be needed. The county used about 60 employees from other departments to count mail-in ballots this spring. About 40 more will be needed this fall.

Sebastiani said it hasn’t been determined if temporary workers will be hired in addition to offering overtime pay for county staff to do the job.