McMahon: “Scathing” NYS Letter Points to Management Concerns at County Board of Elections

The backlog of Onondaga County voter registration applications has been cleared after state elections officials stepped in to help. But the county executive has lingering concerns about leadership at the Board of Elections.

As an elected official himself, County Executive Ryan McMahon has no direct oversight of the board. But he says the letter from the state was a scathing, sobering critique of its operations.

“This should be a wake-up call whether or not the legislature Is going to agree to renominate the two individuals or the parties want them nominated," McMahon said. "That's going to be their process.”

The state board of elections said it observed several systemic issues during a recent visit. They ranged from poor communication and a chaotic work environment, to mismanagement of staff resources, all raising concerns about the reliability of operations leading up to the election. McMahon says the election commissioners need to do some soul-searching about what their roles should and should not entail.

“What they are is people that are supposed to manage that department to make sure elections are done efficiently and effectively," McMahon said. "What they are not are political consultant roles or part-time roles. And litigating and starting lawsuit over this or lawsuit over that. That's not what they're supposed to be.”

McMahon says the state staffers are expected to leave Friday, but the county is also stepping in.

"On Monday, we're sending over six full-time employees from other departments to make sure that the absentee ballots are being processed, and we're staying on top of that," McMahon said. "And if the board of elections gets inundated with something else and they need six more, I'll give them six more. So we'll get through it.”

McMahon says he now gets daily briefings from both commissioners. He says he doesn’t expect this “management issue” to interfere with the board’s ability to properly administer an election, and he adds the public can be confident in the accuracy of the results.

This article was originally published on WAER.