Livingston County Administrator Shrugs Off Ballot Security Gripes

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – The commissioners of the Board of Elections said that they continue to have serious concerns for the security and efficiency of their ballot system at the Public Services Committee meeting on Wednesday, but County officials shrugged off their concerns as frivolous and poorly prepared.

Republican BOE Commissioner Nancy Leven and Democratic BOE Commissioner David DiPasquale said that under their current system, ballots change hands too many times during transport from their headquarters at the County Building and storage area at Millennium Drive in Geneseo, and requested a consolidated office and a reduction in the number of master keys.

“This is ridiculous,” said County Administrator Ian Coyle in response to the request. “Were there any security laws violated? How many people have keys? How would you clean? I would love to see the security remedy to this. That I would love to see.”

Commissioners Leven and DiPasquale said that their concerns have been dismissed by the County in the past.

“We broached the subject to Ian four years ago,” said Commissioner Leven. “Bottom line, our elections always run smoothly, but we’re always under the gun. We haven’t had any major problems yet, but we need to resolve this issue with a major election year coming up which includes a presidential election.”

Committee member David LeFeber asked the commissioners to specify their request in terms of square footage.

“I’m not good with dimensions, but we’d take about the square footage at Millennium Drive,” said Commissioner DiPasquale. “Maybe double what we have at Millennium Drive.”

The commissioners added that some counties have multiple locks securing ballots, so that two master keys held by certified personnel would have to be present to access the ballots.