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Washington County’s Republican commissioners avoid elections forum

By Gary Stout 5 min read

On May 14, the Washington County Bar Association, along with several other organizations, sponsored a well-attended public forum at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe. The program focused on state and local elections and voting rights. The diverse audience included advocates for expanding voting rights, local Republican election deniers, and concerned citizens seeking information on local elections.

The nonpartisan panel was to include former Gov. Tom Corbett; Tim Lewis, a retired Republican federal judge from Western Pennsylvania; Ron Beecher, the deputy director of the Pennsylvania Department of State who oversees elections; and all three Washington County commissioners. Jon Delano, the politics reporter for KDKA-TV, was the moderator.

Five hours before the event, however, the Republican Washington County commissioners, Nick Sherman and Electra Janis, notified the organizers that, on the advice of the county solicitor, they would not participate in the forum or permit Melanie Ostrander, the county’s elections director to attend. The Democratic commissioner, Larry Maggi, attended, along with the other invitees. They provided valuable information. Bracken Burns, a former Washington County commissioner, was sitting next to me when the no-shows were announced. He leaned over and whispered, “In 16 years as commissioner, I never checked with my solicitor before attending a public meeting!”

Before addressing the absent commissioners, a few observations about the excellent program are helpful. Corbett and Lewis are members of a nonprofit civic education organization Keep Our Republic. Their work “is focused on unconventional threats facing our election system and on ways to help strengthen trust in our electoral system.”

The panel wanted the audience to leave the forum with two important thoughts. First was the need to educate the voting public on our state and local election systems. This includes how they are organized, why they are secure and deserve our trust, and the importance of volunteers to work on polling places.

The second point was the value of evidence when investigating voter fraud. The panel responded to questions from local election deniers who raised conspiracy theories. The panel explained that all Pennsylvania fraud claims were thoroughly investigated. No evidence of tampering has been uncovered.

Sherman and Janis did not attend this timely community forum because of possible litigation over their decision to terminate a voter’s right to correct a mail-in ballot if it contains clerical errors. Advocates for voting rights want them to return to the prior system and permit the correction of ballots. Some local Republicans applaud their decision. Other voters want to know the reason for the change in procedure.

In my opinion, as a lawyer for over 45 years, invoking “advice of counsel” not to attend this important public discussion was an ill-advised decision. The Republican commissioners could have participated and declined to answer questions on their vote to prohibit ballot corrections. Most of the program discussed election issues in Washington County that had nothing to do with mail-in ballots.

Republicans have controlled the elections board for over four years. Presumably, Sherman and Janis could provide positive information on the well-run elections under their watch. By not attending, the local elections process remained clouded and subject to ongoing conspiracy theories.

The forum members explained that each county board of elections has broad authority to set their own procedures within the parameters of state election law. Ostrander, who was denied permission to attend the forum, illustrates the confusion that requires official explanation. In 2022, she explained to Votebeat Pennsylvania, “When we’re dealing with election deniers, they will say ‘Well I talked to so-and so in such county and that is not how they do it’ and they would say ‘Well, you are breaking the law.’ Election officials are not making up rules as we go along.”

Failure to show up because of a possible lawsuit challenging the decision on mail-in ballots made little sense. The four largest counties in Pennsylvania, along with many others, support the rights of voters and permit mail-in ballot corrections. Other counties that seek to limit acceptance of mail-in ballots agree with Sherman and Janis. There is no final legal decision, and both procedures are allowed.

All across the commonwealth, Republicans are suing commissioners who permit the correction of ballots, and Democrats are suing commissioners who do not. David Ball, the former chairman of the Washington County Republican Party, appears as a plaintiff on lawsuits in state and federal courts suing counties that have adopted expanded voting rights procedures.

A possible lawsuit is no reason to deny voters the opportunity to question their elected officials about voting procedures in Washington County. The decision of Sherman and Janis not to attend was a cop-out that flies in the face of transparency and good government.

To add insult to injury, Sherman’s official explanation for his vote to prohibit mail-in ballot correction is misleading at best. He states, “The county will continue to follow the state law and the ruling of the Third Circuit.” As explained above, there is no definitive state law on correcting mail-in ballots. The recent Third Circuit opinion deals with dating a mail-in ballot, not corrections to one.

A more reasonable explanation for not attending the public forum is that Sherman and Janis support the suppression of mail-in votes and were afraid to show up and say so.

Interested readers can obtain a wealth of information on Pennsylvania elections by visiting keepourrepublic.org and vote.pa.gov.

Gary Stout is a Washington attorney.

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