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Greene salary board approves new budget and elections director

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The Greene County salary board created a new position of budget and elections director and approved hiring Judy Snyder for the job.

In August, county commissioners announced that they were seeking applicants for the new dual-role position in anticipation of the retirement of the county’s chief financial officer, Scott Kelley.

The Thursday hiring also coincides with the approved resignation of the elections manager, Tina Kiger, who had previously served as elections director until her title was recently changed to manager.

Kelley is set to retire at the end of the year, while Kiger’s resignation takes effect Sept. 25. After approving Kiger’s resignation, Commissioner Mike Belding thanked her for her years of service, adding that her experience “greatly contributed to the success of the elections office.”

Belding said the timing of the hire was essential as the county prepares for the Nov. 3 election and the 2021 county budget.

Snyder, who will report to the commissioners and chief clerk, will earn $57,000 annually.

Belding added that the combination of budget and elections evolved because of changes in Kelley’s duties over the decades, and the elections office, traditionally a two-person operation, is expected to be rather busy as the county expects a larger-than-usual influx of mail-in, absentee and provisional ballots for the upcoming election.

“Combining these two positions will certainly be a cost-saving measure for the county,” he said, adding that both Kiger and Kelley have been employed with Greene County government for more than 20 years.

The position creation and Snyder’s hiring, though officially approved Thursday, were both technically effective Aug. 26, according to county records.

Prior to the salary board meeting, Snyder answered questions from residents with concerns about mail-in and absentee ballots, the need for volunteer poll workers, precinct safety and other voting issues.

Snyder said her office has so far processed 3,726 absentee and mail-in ballots, which include overseas and military ballots. Roughly 575 ballots are from voters who have registered since the primary, 357 are requests to change parties and 439 are requests to change addresses.

Regarding poll workers, Snyder said the office has sent out surveys to previous workers and elections judges, and the deadline for those to be returned is Oct. 9. “And as of today, 22 sets of volunteers have signed up to work the election,” she said.

Classes to train workers will be held Oct. 19 and 20, with Oct. 21 scheduled if needed. Three classes will be offered each day – 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. – with 25 people allotted per class.

Those interested in volunteering are welcome to contact her office at 724-852-5230 for more information.

She added that her office has fielded “a ton of calls” from voters asking when they would be receiving their ballots, and said the state had yet to certify the ballots.

“Until they are certified, we cannot distribute or send out mail-in and absentee ballots,” she said, adding that the state has mandated the office to mail unofficial ballots to overseas and military voters. Oct. 19 is the deadline for voters to register for new applications or make changes to existing registrations, and Oct. 27 is the last day for the office to receive civilian mail-in or absentee applications.

Snyder also said her office is calling all voting precincts to gauge their feelings about opening up for the election in light of the pandemic.

“If precincts feel they do not want to open up for voting due to the pandemic, then we will take that information to the elections board,” she said.

Snyder also stated that testing on voting machines would begin in October, and commissioners have approved the purchase of two fire-safe tablets at a cost of $6,610. She said the purchase is necessary due to the expected increase of mail-in and absentee ballots.

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