Greene voters to again cast paper ballots
By Josh Krysak,   Uniontown Herald-Standard
11/04/2005
 WAYNESBURG - Greene County residents will go to the polls at least one more time with pencils in hand rather than computers as the county continues to try and find a long-term replacement for the now defunct touch-screen system.

In September, the Greene County Election Board announced they will use the same scanners and paper ballots they utilized in primary elections this spring after their electronic system hit an inspection snag prior to the May primary.

Just a month before the primaries, the state barred three counties, including Greene, from continuing to use a touch-screen voting system, UniLect Patriot Direct Recording Electronic Voting System, after examinations of election results revealed an above-average undercount in last November's presidential election.

After the de-certification, the election board worked in conjunction with the county commissioners and the state to quickly implement a paper ballot voting system for the primary, with two scanners used to count the penciled ballots.

While the results were a little slower than past elections, the May primary was conducted without major incident.

Greene County Election Director Frances Pratt said that the county is expected to vote before the end of the year to install a temporary replacement voting system, but added that the county election office is prepared for the vote Tuesday.

Many of the tickets in Greene will go uncontested Tuesday, as incumbent Sheriff Richard C. Ketchem, Coroner Gregory P. Rohanna and Magisterial District Judge Lou Dayich, will run unopposed.

Additionally, candidate Glenn Bates for Magisterial District Judge and Jennie Confortini and Rosalind Laur, for jury commissioners, will run without opposition.

In the Southeastern Greene School District five candidates will vie for four, four-year openings and two candidates will battle for one, two-year term.

Gary Moser, Leonard Novak, Ginny Eberhart, Ed Kamenos and David Richter will compete for the four-year seats and Novak along with Thomas Howard will vie for the two-year post.

The Carmichaels Area School Board will have four candidates vying for four seats, including incumbents Richard Krause Jr. and Ronald Ferek as well as newcomers Dr. William Czyzewski and Ronald Kerr.

While in the Jefferson-Morgan School District four candidates will compete for four seats and one candidate will run for a two-year term.

Mark S. Pochron, Charles Barno, John Cantoni and Gregory Niverth are running for the four-year seats and Cindy Jento will run for the two-year term.

In Carmichaels Borough, the mother of former mayor Michael Peccon, Joyce Peccon will vie for her son's vacated four-year seat against Connie Stewart Conway.

In the townships, Franklin Township incumbent Supervisor T. Reed Kiger will run unopposed after winning in a landslide primary vote.

And in Cumberland incumbents William Groves and William "Homer" Nicholson will run unopposed for two-year and four-year terms, respectively.

Pratt reminded area residents that two polling places have been changed for Tuesday's election.

The Clarksville Borough polling place is permanently being moved from the Pleasant valley Presbyterian Church to the Senior Center in Clarksville.

And Pratt said the Franklin Township polling place will remain temporarily moved to the Greene County Fairgrounds 4-H Building, until the construction of the new municipal building is completed.