The Greene County Board of Elections has been without a director, the top day-to-day administrator, since December.
The board delayed voting to hire a director to give the two new board members, Republican Anita Swan and Democrat Wendy Dyer, an opportunity to interview the candidates.
However, the deadline to complete their reorganization is Thursday.
Three Republican applicants have already been interviewed for the position. Since acting director Jordan Huber is a Democrat, the board must select a Republican, as the two top county election administrators positions are balanced, one from each party.
However, all four board members are re-interviewing the three Republican candidates, as well as Huber, on Wednesday.
“We have applications and an active job offering, but that job offering was for the position that ended Friday,” Democratic board member Kim McCarthy said. “Now it’s a fresh start, and anyone can be nominated to the director role, Republican or Democrat.”
Typically Republican board members will interview Republican candidates, and Democrats will interview Democratic candidates. If a Republican or Democrat is in the director role, a person from the other party serves as the deputy director, and the parties can swap during a reorganization.
“The (Ohio Elections Manual) tells us how to run a reorg, and that’s what we’re trying to follow,” said Republican acting chair Jan Basham. “But we are in an unprecedented situation with these extra applications.”
Both Basham and McCarthy said they are not worried about not having a permanent director ahead of the March election, not only because it’s a small election, but because Huber and staff member Jennifer Corcoran are already in the acting director and acting deputy director roles.
“If it was a presidential — a presidential general — in a few weeks, I’d feel differently,” McCarthy said.
The Greene County Board of Elections came to a similar stalemate last year over the hiring of Huber as deputy director. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office told the Dayton Daily News at the time they do not intervene in personnel matters, except during a board reorganization.
During a reorganization, if the board takes five votes to hire someone, and all five end in a 2-2 tie, then the Secretary of State will intervene as a tiebreaker.
With military and overseas ballots set to go out on March 21, it is ”essential" that Greene County has a fully staffed team to ensure a smooth and efficient May election, Ohio Secretary of State regional liaison Kenny Henning said.
“Staff members at the BOE have worked very hard to ensure safe, accurate, secure elections. They now need leadership, and for the board to get a director and deputy director hired,” Henning said.
Former Republican board member Bruce Hull and former Democratic board member Anne Gerard had their terms expire at the end of February, and the previous director, Alisha Lampert, resigned in December.
“We’ve had our struggles over the last few years, and I really feel like we’re pointing towards the right direction, and I’m hoping we can continue to to make progress and make the voters of Greene County proud, because we have failed them in many ways over the last few years,” McCarthy said.
During the meeting, Huber added that county Boards of Elections are required to conduct redistricting approximately every 10 years, while referencing census data. The last time Greene County completed their redistricting process was 1999.
“We will keep visiting this topic until it’s complete,” Huber said.
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