The Allegheny County Board of Elections on Monday discussed preparations for the Nov. 2 Municipal Election, focusing mostly on hiring more poll workers and election expenses.

So far, the county has hired 4,351 poll workers. Their goal is to have a total of 6,600 workers, which would allow there to be five poll workers at each of the 1,300 polling locations in the county.

The county began recruiting poll workers about a month earlier this year than it did last year and is much further ahead in the hiring process than in previous years, according to David Voye, the manager of the county’s election division.

He noted that in late September 2020, they had signed about half the number of poll workers that they have this year. Recruiting for these positions is still continuing. 

The elections division has also “enhanced” the poll worker training for this year, said Jerry Tyskiewicz, the director of the Department of Administrative Services, under which elections fall.

Board member and county Councilman Sam DeMarco emphasized his desire for more consistency in training for poll workers, specifically surrounding the signing of poll books and the handling of provisional ballots.

“That’s a big emphasis on both in-person and the video component [of the training] that speaks specifically to casting the provisional ballot and how that judge should handle it,” Mr. Tyskiewicz said.

He said the provisional ballot aspect of recent elections “seemed to be confusing” so the elections division altered its training to better explain the protocol.

However, returning poll workers — which Mr. Tyskiewicz believes the majority of this election’s workers are — are not required to participate in the training. Only people who have never been a poll worker are required to do the training.

The county hopes that with the addition of the online component, returning poll workers would be more likely to participate in the updated training materials, according to Chet Harhut, the deputy manager for the elections division.

The company that is used to print the mail-in and absentee ballots has also been changed this year. They are now working with a company called NPC out of Claysburg, Pa., near the center of the state.

NPC was recommended by other Pennsylvania counties, including Montgomery and Chester, Mr. Voye said.

Previously the county was using a company out of Kalamazoo, Mich.

The mail-in ballots will require one first class stamp to return it. There will also be a drop box located in the County Office Building at 542 Forbes Ave., Downtown.

Unlike last year, that will be the only drop off box.

The county will not be holding satellite drop off locations for this election because “it’s an expensive proposition,” said Mr. Tyskiewicz.

An exact number of how much was spent on the satellite drop off locations in the last election was not provided, however Mr. Tyskiewicz provided a breakdown of what the money is spent on.

Each location staffs 25 people at four locations for three weekends. Those employees are all paid and fed. Some of the locations, like Boyce Park, didn’t have outdoor power so the county had to rent generators.

County police were also there to escort the site captains back to the election warehouse with the ballots that had been dropped off, Mr. Tyskiewicz explained.

Chain of custody and security were also cited as reasons for removing the satellite drop boxes this year. 

“We’re spending way more on elections than we ever did before,” said county Executive Rich Fitzgerald. “To add more cost to it … I just don’t see it as being a good use of our resources.”

However, county Councilwoman and board member Bethany Hallam disagreed. 

“Why are we not putting every effort we can into making voting more accessible, more secure, more available to everyone who wants to vote?” she asked during the meeting.

“There’s more options to vote now than there ever have been,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “By the way, we have drop boxes, they’re called mail boxes. People can drop it in the mail and it gets there safely.”

Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com

First Published: September 20, 2021, 9:33 p.m.