Trending
BELLEFONTE -- While Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent Tuesday preparing to win over voters at their first-ever prime-time debate in Philadelphia, Centre County Commissioners made their own preparations ahead of the Nov. 5 General Election.
To ensure the election is administered fairly, accurately and transparently, commissioners approved two motions: a three-day poll worker training in September and the sponsorship of a CNET livestream for the 2024 General Presidential Election vote-by-mail processing rooms on Election Day.
Melanie Bailey, director of the Centre County Elections Office, secured approval from commissioners for a contract with Election Systems & Software, LLC, to conduct a three-day poll worker training for the 2024 general election at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. Scheduled for Oct. 15-17, the training will ensure that the people running polling places and processing ballots are knowledgeable, safe and capable of administering accurate, secure elections.
The Nebraska-based company, Election Systems & Software, provides all manner of election administration systems including voting machines, tabulators, electronic pollbooks, secure data hosting and other election management software, alongside hosting poll worker trainings.
The contract frees up Election Coordinator Jodi Nedd to oversee the processing of mail-in ballots, which Bailey said she anticipates will be distributed over the weeks leading up to the training.
The contract total was $5,925.
Bailey, who assumed her role as director on Aug. 6 of this year, previously served as the director of elections for Venango County in Western Pa. Because she is new to her role and not yet familiar with Centre County's training techniques, Bailey will be attending the training as an aide and observer.
"We're really excited to have you and your expertise, and (your) experience will certainly be appreciated in a very short while," said Commissioner Steven Dersehm, alluding to the election, which is just over 50 days away.
Commissioner Mark Higgins pointed out this period is always stressful for the elections office, as the four permanent staff must manage the tabulation of votes, oversee 86 polling locations and coordinate the vote-by-mail center, which in total involves nearly 1,000 employees.
"This is the time when we're really working to make sure we have all of those roles filled and we need a lot of support from the community," said Commissioner Amber Concepcion.
She encouraged anyone interested in volunteering to call the county election's office at 814-355-6703 or fill out the interest form online at paebrprod.powerappsportals.us/EBR/DOS/Votes-PA-County/.
Commissioners also gave approval to a sponsorship of CNET's livestream of the 2024 general presidential election vote-by-mail processing rooms at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center and the Willowbank Building EOC.
According to the commissioners, the livestream ensures anyone interested in seeing the process, but is unable to come to the processing places in person, is able to see the votes being counted.
"I think it's important that we provide this opportunity for transparency and for people to see how the process works, so they know when they put their mail-in ballot in the mail or in a dropbox, they have a sense of what happens on the other end," Concepcion said.
According to Concepcion, Centre County now has 102,068 registered voters, an increase of 427 from last week. Of these, 42,452 are Democrats, 41,404 are Republicans, and 14,503 have no party affiliation. The remaining fewer than 5,000 voters are registered with smaller parties.