Election officials in Westmoreland County prepare for 2023 primary
The biggest countywide race in Westmoreland County is the Republican primary for county commissioner, where three challengers are squaring off against incumbent commissioners Doug Chew and Sean Kertes.
But officials here in the county say there are a lot of candidates in another category — school boards — that should bring a lot of people out to the polls Tuesday.
Even without a state or federal candidate on the ballot, Westmoreland County elections officials still expect poll workers to be busy.
Greg McCloskey of the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau said, "We're ballparking it at 35 to 37 percent turnout just because some of the county races are a little more popular than some of the other races. And there's a lot of candidates running for school boards this year."
One of those county races will see incumbent Republican county commissioners Doug Chew and Sean Kertes face off against the same opponents they defeated four years ago — challengers Patricia Fritz, Paul Kosko and John Ventre.
Two of those five candidates will move on to the general election in November ahead of the primary election. Westmoreland County officials have added a drop box for mail-in ballots at the county courthouse.
Of the 24,000 ballots sent out, McCloskey says more than 70 percent are already back. The deadline is 8 p.m. when polls close.
"They can't be postmarked at any time past that — they have to be in our possession at 8 p.m. to be counted," McCloskey said.
County officials say they expect that counting process to go smoothly, with added staff from other departments lending a hand. This is a process McCroskey says they've gotten used to with eyes already on a major challenge next year.
"This is going to be a good warm-up for 2024," McCloskey said.
