Board Of Elections Hires Special Counsel

The Washington County Board of Elections held a special meeting Friday to determine their course of action after a lawsuit was filed against them earlier this week. The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of seven county voters, the Washington Branch of the NAACP and the Center for Coalfield Justice, in an effort to have the Board of Elections, that is made up of the three Washington County Commissioners, overturn their decision to not allow ballot curing for mail in ballots. That decision made in April before the Pennsylvania primary election was a reversal of previous protocol that allowed the Department of Elections to alert voters of errors that would prevent their ballot from counting and gave them the opportunity to correct the error. The decision went further in not allowing elections officials to alert voters that their votes would not be counted. In a 2-1 vote, the board voted to hire a special counsel to fight the lawsuit in Washington County Common Pleas Court. Both Republican Commissioners Nick Sherman and Electra Janis voted in favor of hiring the special counsel, Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi dissented. Maggi brought a motion to the floor in an effort to reverse the decision, but the effort died due to a lack of a second. Motions are scheduled to be heard in front of Judge Brandon Neuman on Tuesday.