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BELLEFONTE -- With primary Election Day in the rearview mirror, the Centre County Board of Commissioners took a look back at how the day unfolded. At Tuesday's Board of Commissioners' meeting, they discussed what went right, what went wrong and what can improve looking ahead to November.
Commissioner Steve Dershem said that while most ballots have been counted, there are "40 or so" military ballots that are still outstanding. Dershem noted that there are 89,121 registered voters in Centre County. On Election Day, 18,316 Democrats cast ballots. Of those, he said, 13,512 were absentee or mail-in ballots. A total of 14,593 Republicans cast ballots and of those, 5,400 were either absentee or mail-in ballots.
The voter turnout, Dershem said, was 36.93 percent.
"I think that's a pretty respectable turnout between both the in-person and the mail ins," Dershem said.
Dershem lauded chair Michael Pipe for his efforts on Election Day.
"He really took the ballot calculation task on for the election, which was no small venture. To get 19,000 ballots counted in a matter of three days not only took a lot of folks physically doing it … to your credit, you actually organized and figured out how to get it done. That was a monumental task," Dershem said.
Pipe said that his effort was just a piece of the puzzle.
"I think it was a team effort and I was happy to spearhead it. The elections office did a phenomenal job making sure that all 87 precincts around the county ran smoothly," Pipe said. "I think we can agree that we're glad to have the election behind us as we move into the green phase and move into other things in the community."
Dershem said that he does have some concerns for November when the number of voters will undoubtedly increase due to the presidential race between President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden.
"The numbers will be dramatically higher. It's going to take a legion of people counting and organizing. Not only do we have the challenges at the HUB and Penn State on Election Day, we're going to have to tackle the absentee and mail-in (ballots)," Dershem noted.
Pipe said that the county will be looking for more poll workers in November.
"We're going to be doing a large recruitment effort. It's a challenge we can certainly meet, without a doubt," Pipe said.
In other business Tuesday, the commissioners:
-- Approved a change order for the courthouse renovation project to purchase signage from Howard Industries in the amount of $4,985.04 to comply with code requirements.
-- Issued resolution No. 13 of 2020, which adopts a fair housing policy making known the the county's commitment to the principle of fair housing and describing actions it shall undertake to further fair housing.
-- Approved the reinstatement of Danielle Minarchick, drug and alcohol therapist coordinator from reduced hours furlough to regular full-time status.
-- Approved a contract renewal with ESRI, Inc. to provide technical support and software upgrades. The contract total is $23,740 for the period of Aug. 22, 2020 through Aug. 21, 2021. That item was moved to next week's consent agenda.
-- Approved a memorandum of understanding with Journey Center, LLC to facilitate coordination of care and/or interagency refrerrals to provide mental health care for Centre County residents. There is no cost for the agreement for the period of May 20, 2020 through May 20, 2025. That item was moved to next week's consent agenda.
The commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 16. That meeting will be televised by C-NET.