Jun 29, 2008 By Amy Zalar 6 min read

A letter from the Fayette County Election Bureau for judges of election and municipal officials in numerous municipalities throughout Fayette County to gain information about possibly consolidating some of the county’s 103 precincts may not go out until mid-July. A decision by Commissioners Vincent Zapotosky and Vincent A. Vicites to review and possibly edit the content of a letter written by Laurie Lint, director of the election bureau, has postponed distribution of the letter.

Lint said Tuesday that any changes are needed by September. She said the largest amount of work would involve redistricting all three precincts in Masontown, which would require court approval.

“I want to get things moving with 13 different precincts,” Lint said.

Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink said Friday that she was not surprised her colleagues “pulled the letter” after the board of commissioners publicly gave the green light to Lint to proceed, adding that “lately statements have been made at the public commissioners meeting that change afterwards.”

Zimmerlink also said she found it disturbing that she had not received a copy of Lint’s letter from either Zapotosky or Vicites, although both told her it would be placed in her mailbox.

Zapotosky said Friday afternoon that he was not in the office, but would direct someone to give Zimmerlink a copy of the letter.

Both Zapotosky and Vicites said the letter is still going to be sent to all the municipalities that Lint suggested.

After Tuesday’s meeting, in which Lint was directed to begin the process of seeking input for her plan to potentially drop the number of county voting precincts from 103 to 90, she wrote a letter to send out the following day, but then went on vacation and will not return for more than two weeks.

Zapotosky said he opted not to send the letter the next day because he merely wanted to review the content of the letters before they were mailed, a suggestion to which Vicites concurred. Zapotosky said he felt the letter “lacked depth and detail” and needed to be rewritten prior to being mailed, a decision Zimmerlink took issue with.

“In my four-plus years, commissioners have not performed editorial review of letters authored by our county directors, but if the two Vinces are now going to perform editorial reviews on director letters, they have more time on their hands than I do,” Zimmerlink said.

Zapotosky said he feels it is certainly his prerogative to take a look at such a letter prior to it being mailed. Zapotosky said he would like to review the revised letter with Lint prior to sending it out. He added that he is still in favor of seeking input prior to consolidating precincts, but added that his top priority is purging the voter list.

Vicites said he also wanted to review the letter’s content.

“We are the policymakers of this county. We can do any oversight with any department. We’re allowed to review anything,” Vicites said.

He added that local officials know their local area best and sending out the letters is an important step.

“We are going to reach out and ask their opinion. We may get good suggestions that may be helpful in a better plan,” Vicites said.

Vicites said he isn’t going to put a number on how many precinct consolidations will be done, but he wants to make sure the county is making the right decision and that is why additional information is needed. Vicites echoed Zapotosky’s comments about the voter purge, saying that is the most important matter.

Zimmerlink said it is important to get the letters out and receive input before making any decisions.

“The important thing to remember is to make the decision for the right reasons and in the best interest of the county, and what I plan to do is take the suggestions of the county election bureau and then receive the input of the judges of elections, local elected officials and the affected voters and weigh that against the cost of operating 103 polls to that of making the voting process as smooth as possible,” Zimmerlink said.

She continued, “I prefer to maintain each polling place as is unless and until doing so becomes unable to maintain because of polls not being handicapped-accessible, not having election day workers or other circumstances that could not be resolved by the county.”

In total, Lint was seeking changes for precincts in the townships of Dunbar, German, Jefferson, Luzerne, Nicholson, North Union, Perry and Washington; Masontown Borough; and the city of Uniontown. The proposal to drop from 103 to 90 precincts was revealed by Lint on Tuesday. Included among Lint’s proposal is combining Dunbar’s 2nd and 3rd precincts and moving out of the Lolly Rosensteel residence and voting at Devito Park; combining German Township’s 2nd, 6th and 7th precincts and moving out of Wonder’s Machine Shop and Adah fire hall and voting at the municipal building; and combining German Township’s 4th and 5th precincts and moving out of the Ronco fire hall and voting at the American Legion post.

Also, she proposes combining Jefferson Township’s 1st and 2nd precincts and moving out of the Grindstone social hall and voting at the township building.

Lint is proposing joining Luzerne Township’s 1st and 3rd precincts and moving out of Isabella Volunteer Fire Department and voting at the township building, combining Luzerne Township’s 4th and 6th precincts into one precinct and moving out of Harvey McClelland’s garage to the LaBelle Volunteer Fire Department.

In Masontown, Lint wants to redistrict all three precincts and move out of Fort Mason Village and vote at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post and Masontown Volunteer Fire Department.

In Nicholson Township, the proposal calls for combining Nicholson’s 2nd and 3rd precincts and moving out of Andy Matejcik’s garage and voting in Wilma Rhodes’ garage.

For voters at North Union Township Precinct 4, the polling place must be moved from the township building because of road and bridge construction.

The plan for Perry Township’s 1st and 4th precincts includes combining them and moving out of the post office, which Lint said is not handicapped-accessible and cannot be made accessible, and voting at Doemling’s garage.

For Uniontown, the plan is to combine Uniontown’s 4th and 5th precincts and to move out of the civil defense center and to vote at Uniontown Area Senior High School.

Washington Township changes include combining the 2nd and 4th precincts, which already vote in the same building, Lint said.

Zimmerlink said numerous issues must be studied before any decision is made.

“Unfortunately, consolidating election districts and combining polling places is a hot potato for some politicians, because some voters do not want their polling place changed, vowing to stop voting except to vote the commissioners out of office who changed their polling place,” Zimmerlink said.

“As commissioners, we are responsible for the election process and we rely on the county election bureau office to provide us with an opinion based on documented voter and poll information and with that said those letters need to be mailed to those voting areas, which the election bureau suggested so that the commissioners can receive input rather than having the spread of hysteria and falsehoods that certain people are trying to disenfranchise voters,” Zimmerlink said.