CLEARFIELD – With the May Primary Election about 20 days away, Troutville Borough is still in need of poll workers.
At a special Elections Board meeting Friday afternoon, Director of Elections Dawn Graham reported this small municipality currently only has two poll workers, and it needs a total of five on its precinct level board of elections.
Graham said she’s talked to the judge and inspector of elections; her office has advertised the need for workers; and it’s been in the local news media. “And I still can’t find anybody to work in Troutville Borough.”
Graham asked what her office could do because it was getting down to the wire, as well as if it would be possible to move it in with another precinct for future elections.
“Of course, we can’t do that for this election,” she said. “We’re going to have to figure something out, but I don’t know what the answer is.”
Graham said she was aware the court would have to be petitioned in order to appoint people to the board. “But I don’t have any names to give to the court.”
Solicitor Kim Kesner said he’d prepared a memo for the Elections Board concerning this matter, and noted that moving the polling place is not legally possible.
“The conundrum is, ‘what do you do when the proper procedures fail because of lack of interest?’” he asked. “… The statutory process is for the court to appoint.
“I’ve made it clear … that I can prepare and file a petition at any point, but Judge (Fredric) Ammerman is going to look to the board of elections for who to appoint.
“There has to be nominees because the court won’t enslave people. So now … what do you do when the population base gets so small and or the people who are interested becomes such a small set?”
Commissioner Mark B. McCracken said efforts have been made to find people, and that they’d have to go down through the phone listing and call number after number to find somebody.
McCracken asked Graham to provide him with any phone numbers they had available for voters in Troutville Borough. “I guess it’s come down to randomly calling people … over the landline.”
Kesner then requested for the board to approve a motion that would allow the chairman to sign off on a petition for appointment to fill the vacancies if nominees would be located, which it did.
Anyone with interest in working at the Troutville polling place is asked to contact Graham at 814-765-2642, Ext. 5053, as soon as possible.
