Election night response praised
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County commissioners on Thursday expressed appreciation to all involved in processing Tuesday's election results, including efforts to temporarily relocate because of a bomb threat.
Chairman Dave Kessling, participating in his first presidential election as a member of the county board of elections, said he was pleased and amazed with the success of temporarily moving to the Blair County Convention Center, then returning to the county's highway building to resume the vote counting process.
"It is a monumental undertaking to do (an election) without a bomb threat," Kessling said. "And the fact that we had a bomb threat, as eight other counties did, and the fact that we were able to get done counting as quickly as we did is just a testament to the people involved, our staff members, the highway department ... To me, it was just amazing."
The emailed bomb threat arrived about 6:50 p.m., when Kessling was inside the highway yard building — where the county's elections office is located. Kessling and others were opening and canvassing mail ballots, a process that began Tuesday morning.
"We had to cease and evaluate the building ... and we weren't allowed back in until the building was cleared," Kessling said.
Commissioner Laura Burke, who chairs the county's board of elections made up of the commissioners, said she remained at the highway yard while others headed to the convention center, where workers from the county's 93 precincts were directed to drop off their equipment and results.
The option of moving to the convention center, Burke said Thursday, previously came up during a seminar where she and other county personnel discussed contingency plans for reasons that included a bomb threat.
Kessling said he was grateful to local and state police, in addition to the sheriff's office and Ric, its bomb-sniffing canine, for their assistance in moving the operations and determining that it was safe to return.
"We moved our operations back ... and staff picked up where they left off, continuing the count," Kessling said.
Burke said that county employees from 10 departments and three row offices worked well and worked as a team through Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
"We got more done and way more quickly than I was expecting ... and I'm just grateful," Burke said.
She also praised the Hollidaysburg post office for delivering as many mail ballots as possible to meet the deadline.
The county's counting of in-person and mail ballots wrapped up late Wednesday afternoon when the latest results were posted. Those numbers will be updated again after votes from damaged, military and provisional ballots are counted.
Commissioner Amy Webster added her praise Thursday for what she described as the camaraderie she saw among the county employees from different departments, all working to process the county's votes.
"It was such a highly contested race," Webster said in reference to the battle for the nation's presidency between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. "I'm sure there were people with different views and positions ... but nobody became political. There was no complaining or infighting ... It was an outstanding example of county people really pulling together and working hard."
Unofficial results showed Blair County received almost 17,000 mail ballots and had an 80% turnout of registered voters.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.
