Voters in several York County precincts will be part of pilot program for e-poll books

Residents in several voting precincts will see a slightly different procedure from previous elections as the county experiments with a new system for tracking who is eligible to vote.

Traditionally, most polling places use paper poll books consisting of a list of names of eligible voters. On Tuesday, however, workers at six precincts across the county — York City 5 and 7; York Township 4-1 and 4-2; and West York Borough 1 and 2 — will cross-reference voters against electronic poll books from the Missouri-based voting technology company KNOWiNK.

"Our objective at this point in time is to gain feedback on how e-poll books work in the poll place and how it works for elections staff working with the poll books after the election," York County Elections Director Julie Haertsch said.

Haertsch said the trial poll books come with no cost to the county other than postage. Other than using an electronic voter database, the rest of the process at those precincts remains largely the same.

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While primaries are typically low-turnout elections, Haertsch emphasized their impact.

"Most decisions that impact our life are local in nature," she said, noting the ways local decisions affect such things as taxes, road projects and code enforcement.

Candidates who receive their party's nomination Tuesday will advance to November's general election. Only Democrats can vote for Democrats and only Republicans can vote for Republicans, which leads to candidates "cross-filing," or filing as both a Democrat and a Republican. Some of the races include:

• Five candidates are running for York County commissioner. Incumbent Republicans Julie Wheeler and Ron Smith are joined by Scott Burford, a Springettsbury Township native who is the chief of staff for the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners. Incumbent Democrat Doug Hoke is joined by newcomer Keena Minifield, a single mother who is studying for her master's degree in public administration at York College.
• Three total candidates are running for prothonotary. Incumbent Republican Allison Blew is opposed by Diane Platts in the primary, while Democrat Adam Jones is also running.
• Incumbent Republican treasurer Barbara Bair is opposed by Republican Andrew Kroft.
• Current incumbent Republicans Sheriff Rich Keuerleber, Clerk of Courts Dan Byrnes and Register of Wills Bryan Tate are running unopposed for their current positions.
• Several candidates are running for York City Council. Incumbent Democrat Edquina Washington is joined by Democrats Teresa Johnescu, Elizabeth Bupp and Blade Kline. In addition, current council president Sandie Walker is running a write-in campaign.
• Mike Buckingham is running a write-in campaign for York City controller. Incumbent Democrat Joe Jefcoat is running unopposed for York City treasurer.
• The York City School Board has four incumbent Democrats running for reelection as well as one write-in candidate. Cassandra Liggins, Diane Glover Brown, Micah Leonard and Michael L. Breeland are running as well as write-in Ryan Supler.

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There are also several candidates for magisterial district judge. Those include:

• Republicans Jen Menges, Patrick Hinds and Tobin Zech are all running for Magisterial District Judge 19-2-03.
• Chris Topper and Michael Gessner are both running for Magisterial District Judge 19-1-03.
• Lindy Sweeney is running unopposed for Magisterial District Judge 19-3-04.
• Jeffrey Sneeringer is running unopposed for Magisterial District Judge 19-3-05.
• Joe Spadaccino, Keith Farren, Paul L. DeHart and Matthew L. Ruth are running for Magisterial District Judge 19-3-09. The first three candidates are cross-filed; Matthew L. Ruth is running only as a Republican.
• Benjamin Yoffee and Jason Loper are running for Magisterial District Judge 19-3-10. Loper is running only as a Republican.

In addition to Election Day voting, other avenues for voting include mail-in ballots and absentee ballots. Haertsch said the county had received 10,546 mail-in ballots as of Friday and expects to receive more.

Mail-in ballots can be dropped off at the county's administrative center, 28 E. Market St., or at the county's election office, 2401 Pleasant Valley Road. The county will run a curbside service to drop off ballots at the administrative center from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, as it has on previous Election Days.

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For more information on Tuesday's election, including how to find your polling place, a full list of candidates and updated results, visit York County's website. Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday; if you are in line at that time, stay in line and you will be able to vote.

This article has been updated to correct the magisterial districts in which Lindy Sweeney and Jeffrey Sneeringer are running unopposed.

— Reach Matt Enright via email at menright@yorkdispatch.com or via Twitter at @Matthew_Enright.