Allegheny County officials make final preparations for May 16 primary

Allegheny County is making final preparations for the upcoming May 16 primary, and officials said polling locations will be ready to go for voters.

Jessica Garofolo, the county’s director of administrative services, said at Wednesday morning’s elections board meeting that more than 6,100 poll workers are confirmed to help.

“I think this is the best spot we’ve been in since I’ve been in this position,” she said. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll be well staffed on Election Day.”

Garofolo said the county expanded its program to recruit high school students to help at the polls, with about 100 students registered. The county went directly to school districts and asked for help in getting the word out, as opposed to the past method of having an outside firm handle communication.

“For a lot of them, it’s actually an easy way for them to get civic engagement project credits,” she said. “They’re AP Government students, so that’s something they have to complete before the end of the year.”

The meeting was the first for the two new board members, Democratic county councilor Tom Duerr and former Republican county councilor Cindy Kirk. They were appointed by the county’s president judge to fill in for at-large councilors Bethany Hallam and Sam DeMarco III, who are both running for re-election this year. Fitzgerald was approved again as board chair.

David Voye, the county’s top elections official, said he estimated turnout would be about 30% in the primary. Various municipal races will appear on the ballot, along with state and county judgeships, county executive and district attorney.

About 103,000 mail ballots have been requested by voters, with 37,000 already returned by Wednesday morning. County officials must receive a ballot by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order for it to be counted.

There are about 896,000 registered voters in the county, including 509,000 Democrats and 254,000 Republicans, as of when registration closed Monday.