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Sherman plans to handle election board duties by phone

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Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman was looking forward to handling in person his first general election and presidential contest as a member of the election board, but a diagnosis of the novel coronavirus resulted in a change in his plans.

“My ability to work is limited,” Sherman said Friday by phone.

Fielding phone calls is part of an election board member’s duties, and that’s what Sherman expects to be doing Tuesday. He’ll also be depending on help from Pat Geho, his administrative assistant.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

“I feel better, I really do,” Sherman said Friday. “I was very sick for two days. I’m 41, and for someone in their 80s or 90s, it’s no joke. I was wiped out.”

Sherman, who is now self-isolating for two weeks, met earlier in the week with Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone and police chiefs of Washington County at City Hall.

“We have no intelligence that we’re going to have any issues at this point,” Sherman said, adding that if the situation changes, “We have a great plan in place.”

“By the grace of God, hopefully, I didn’t give it to a bunch a people. I am the reason, unfortunately, City Hall is closed.”

The commissioner who was elected to a four-year term in November of last year, came down with a fever Monday night into Tuesday. That morning as he was readying for work, he began to sweat and thought it was a sign that the fever had broken.

As he drove to Washington, he developed chills and, after a stop where he was told he’d have to wait four hours for a COVID-19 test, he then went to the emergency room at Washington Hospital and was tested with a nasal swab.

Sherman received the result Wednesday morning that he had tested positive.

The first-term commissioner, who lives in North Strabane Township, has already voted with a no-excuse mail-in ballot, which he had previously dropped off at the elections office in Courthouse Square.

Commission Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan, who is also in charge of the election board, and Vice Chairman Larry Maggi both said they plan to vote in person at their respective polling places in Cecil and Buffalo townships.

They’ll have a long day, or several long days, as opening mail-in ballots and tabulating voting machine results begin the counting process.

As of Friday, Washington County Democrats had mailed or dropped off 22,672 absentee or no-excuse ballots; Republicans had done the same with 9,027; and independents and third-party voters had turned in 3,133, according to Elections Director Melanie Ostrander.

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