Most Pittsburgh-area counties have lost at least one election official since 2020
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- Election Day is eight weeks away, and several local counties will have staffers handling a presidential election for the first time.
Data from CBS News shows that among the 10 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, seven have lost at least one election official since the 2020 election. Greene County has actually lost five, which is the most in the region, followed by Westmoreland County with three.
What happens when you lose centuries of institutional knowledge running your counties' elections? It's not just something happening in Westmoreland County. This is something happening everywhere. But are the ones left ready for Nov. 5?
Westmoreland County Election Bureau Director Greg McCloskey is focused on Nov. 5, 2024 with lessons learned from Nov. 3, 2020.
"There was some turnover here in the election bureau," McCloskey said.
McCloskey took over after the former bureau director was fired. McCloskey says it came at an interesting time.
"I mean, elections are more popular now than they have ever been in my lifetime," he said.
Three election officials have left the department in Westmoreland County since the 2020 election.
Statewide, 2024 will be the first presidential election for 52% of election officials. That means Pennsylvania has lost more than 700 years of experience in just four years. But McCloskey says there's more to running an election than just experience.
"I think you lose a lot of tacit knowledge, but you also get rid of some bad habits and maybe ways people were doing things in the past," McCloskey said.
And in fact, data collected by CBS News show that the people stepping in to fill those vacancies come with nearly 350 years of experience. That's what Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew says has happened in Westmoreland County.
"We are lucky that the people that we have at the top of the bureau have been part of county government for quite a while," Chew said.
He says there were lots of reasons for the turnover, even just people getting better paid jobs elsewhere. But he says the widespread and false accusations of election fraud in 2020 also did not help convince anyone to stick around for another election.
"People got frustrated and worried for their own safety with the level of discontent that the public was displaying," Chew said.
Dana DeBeauvoir ran elections in Texas for over 35 years. She says perceptions of inexperience could lead to distrust.
"I think voters are having difficulty being confident in elections because they're not getting their results timely, because there are little mistakes being made behind the scenes. It's not fraud. It's just we lack the efficiency that comes with experience," DeBeauvoir said.
And that's on McCloskey's mind.
"I think our biggest threat is going to be misinformation and people miscommunicating. And I think that's going to occur out in the precincts with the poll workers and the voters, people challenging them," McCloskey said.
Both McCloskey and Chew say they anticipate there will be disputes on Nov. 5 and beyond.
"I'm a scientist, I can come up with a lot of possibilities," Chew said.
It's something we're going to continue living with.
"New normal? I certainly would hope not. But yeah, I'm leaning toward this is the new normal," McCloskey said.
KDKA-TV Investigative Producer Tory Wegerski contributed to this report.
