People face a lot of tough decisions on Election Day. Darrin Farmer, police said, decided he would rather be driving a jitney.
Mr. Farmer, a judge of elections in North Versailles, was arrested Tuesday after police said he failed to set up the polling place in his precinct in the morning and was found driving his car with the necessary election materials and supplies inside.
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department said Mr. Farmer, 55, had taken his wife to a Wal-Mart on Route 30 shortly before 6:30 a.m. to pick up ice and refreshments in anticipation of opening the polling place at the North Versailles Township Senior Center on Greensburg Pike at 7 a.m.
But as soon as his wife exited the white Chevy Impala, Mr. Farmer drove off, police said.
North Versailles police and the Allegheny County Elections Court Hotline were notified of Mr. Farmer’s disappearance. Detectives from the sheriff’s office joined the investigation at 10:30 a.m. and viewed Wal-Mart security video to confirm that Mr. Farmer drove away on his own.
Mr. Farmer’s car was located just before noon in the 7400 block of Washington Avenue in Swissvale, where deputies found him giving two people a jitney ride from Edgewood Towne Center to Rankin. The missing election materials — including electronic devices, special ballots, absentee ballots, and books and binders of registered voters — were in the car, police said.
Although it took law enforcement officers hours to track down Mr. Farmer, county election officials said no residents were deprived of the chance to vote because emergency ballots were available.
“There are other precincts at that polling location,” said Elections Division Manager Mark Wolosik. “The officials that were there called us, and we told them what to do. That’s why we have emergency ballots.”
Mr. Wolosik said his office produced duplicate materials and delivered them to the polling place to accommodate voters later in the day. Because no voters were inconvenienced, he said, there was no need to extend hours at the polling place.
The judge of elections is paid $110 plus $20 to pick up and return equipment and materials, as well as mileage reimbursement. Duties include setting up the polling place equipment and paperwork and oversight of operations there.
Most judges of elections are elected, though sometimes someone is appointed, Mr. Wolosik said. He said he believed that Mr. Farmer had been appointed to the job and that this was not his first election in the role.
Mr. Farmer, who admitted to police that he never went to the polling place Tuesday, was being held in the Allegheny County Jail pending charges of tampering with public records, obstructing a government function, failure to perform duty and hindering or delaying performance of a public duty.
Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1456.
First Published: November 3, 2015, 3:49 p.m.
Updated: November 3, 2015, 10:34 p.m.
