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Westmoreland County's Election Problem - Long Waits
Posted 11-20-2000
Well, the election is over. Or is it? As of this writing, the presidential
race is still undecided. But here in Westmoreland County, we have nearly
finalized our official results with no controversy. Our voting machines may
be getting old, and eventually we'll have to go to some type of computerized
machines. But the way they operate eliminates some of the problems that went
on in Florida. There is no possibility to cast more than one vote in a race
that elects only one person, and the structure of the ballot makes the
choices clear.
There were some Election Day
problems here. The problems don't revolve around vote counts, but with
people having to wait for extended periods of time to vote in some
precincts. While that problem may have been frustrating to those people
involved, it is a distinct change from what has been happening in our county
lately. In recent years, our biggest problem was boredom for the workers
inside of each polling station as we had turnouts of less that 25% in each
of the last three primary elections and a turnout of about 34% in last
year's general election. This November's election turnout in Westmoreland
County was a decent 65%. That amount is about 15% above the national
average.
So how do we address the
problem of long waits in certain elections? Part of the problem is verifying
the signatures of voters. It seems there were no bottlenecks at the voting
machines but in getting through the check-in process. We are exploring the
possibility of digitizing signatures as a way of speeding up the process. It
would eliminate the need for multiple books inside the polls and allow
voters to move more quickly to the voting machines. Adding more people
inside the precincts really wouldn't make much of a difference. Our current
process is somewhat cumbersome, and hopefully, we’ll improve it.
The issue with the size of
some precincts can be addressed after the next reapportionment that will go
into effect in 2002. We can look at reconfiguring some precincts and perhaps
make some of the ones with more than 2,000 voters smaller. There may be
neighboring precincts with fewer voters that would allow us to make some
type of adjustment. In Murrysville for example, there are three precincts
with more than 2,000 voters. One has 2,200, and two have over 2,900. The
other four precincts have between 1,300 and 1,700 voters. So after
reapportionment, when we look at the entire county, we can possibly balance
some of the disproportion of those precincts.
Most of the problems occur
where new houses have been built in large numbers during the last decade.
The populations of the small cities have stayed pretty much the same, while
some of the big townships and Murrysville have seen their populations grow.
We may even look at eliminating some very small precincts and combining them
with a larger neighboring precinct.
I’ve been in office nearly
five years now, and I must say it was the first time we had folks calling
and complaining because of the wait in line to vote. If we had that problem
every election, it may have caused some action years ago. But most
elections, too many voters stay home. I sure hope people are out in such
large numbers next year and every year after because greater participation
makes our political process work. |
