Regardless of what happens in the search for a new election director, Luzerne County Manager Randy Robertson said he is confident the election bureau will be prepared for the Nov. 8 general election.
“My message to the citizens is in my short time here, I’m seeing a tremendously diligent core staff who have been trained and have done it before,” Robertson said Wednesday.
Election Director Michael Susek is leaving Aug. 11 after eight months in the position.
Robertson, who has been county manager since June 13, said he has asked the administration to promptly advertise the opening regionally and statewide and is researching whether there are other sites nationally that focus on employment opportunities in the election field.
While “time is of the essence,” Robertson said the position must be advertised for at least a month to 45 days.
He is hopeful the county will attract a strong response within this short window.
“But if we don’t have the best we think we can get for this county, then we’ll continue to work as best as we can in-house,” he said. “We’ll get by. We’ll figure it out.”
Robertson emphasized no election is flawless because humans are involved and make mistakes, but he said the administration will strive to keep the mistakes minimal and not repeat them.
“But will it be a fatal flaw? Absolutely not,” Robertson vowed.
Robertson has said management turnover in the election bureau must be addressed, although it is a complicated issue with many potential factors.
Susek is the county’s third election director since Marissa Crispell resigned from the position in September 2019, following criticism over her participation in vendor-funded advisory board trips. The county has had four deputy election directors since Mary Beth Steininger resigned in August 2020 to accept another position outside county government.
Beth Gilbert McBride started work as deputy election director July 15.
Robertson believes some of the turnover stems from the challenges of political division occurring nationwide and the “vitriol that seems to exist in our society.” He said he’s been told repeatedly that two people from differing parties could sit down a decade ago and agree to disagree while walking away best friends.
“That environment, for many, doesn’t seem to exist anymore,” he said.