T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont County Board of Elections members including Michael Shaheen, from left, Lois Doneson and Deputy Director Kamron Chervenak listen to security concerns from poll workers and a candidate Tuesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Issues of voting security and the unbiased integrity of poll workers were raised Tuesday before the Belmont County Board of Elections by two poll workers and a candidate for office.

The board first heard from poll workers Donna Gacek of Brookside and Mary Doty of St. Clairsville, who asked about procedures to follow should they suspect a non-citizen is attempting to vote.

Board member Frankie Lee Carnes said voters would provide identification, which poll workers would then need to look up in the voter registration list.

“If you have a voter come in and they give you identification, they have to be a registered voter in this county, and they have already gone through the process in our office. So you have your voter rolls, and if they’re listed on there, then you check to make sure their name and address match the identification that they’ve given you,” Carnes said.

Election Director Aaron Moore said there is a challenge process should a poll worker encounter someone who they believe is either not a citizen, not a resident of where they are listed, of legal age or has another disqualifier.

The board also heard from Vince Gianangeli, candidate for the Republican nomination for a Belmont County commission seat. He talked about an incident that he said occurred when he attended the Jan. 9 central committee meeting of the Belmont County Republican Party. He said he clashed with a poll worker who is also a candidate for one of the central committee seats, adding that the individual objected to him changing his political affiliation from the Democratic Party.

“I had a gentleman, he got pretty irate with me,” Gianangeli said after the meeting Tuesday. “He happens to be a poll worker in my township, and there’s four precincts of the six in Colerain Township in one building (the fire department). This gentleman happens to be on the ballot and a poll worker as a central committee precinct person, so I don’t believe he should be allowed to work in that precinct, nor in the building that houses the four precincts, because of that.”

Gianangeli said he has “sponsored” or encouraged and filed petitions for 54 central committee candidates. Three have since withdrawn, for a total of 51 with 27 of those candidates uncontested and 24 races that will be going on.

“This is the concern: anybody that is working the polls that’s in a contested race for central committee of the Republican Party … if you have a poll worker in that building with four precincts,” Gianangeli said, adding that such an individual could potentially influence voters. “Send them to Martins Ferry. Send them somewhere else.”

Gianangeli asked the board to determine how many candidates in the 24 races are also poll workers and make a decision about polling locations where they can work.

Board member Michael Shaheen said the situation could become complicated if the board had to eventually begin moving people from one site to another, noting that there are already difficulties in getting poll workers.

“We have to beg, borrow and steal for new poll workers,” he said.

Carnes addressed the question as well.

“Every poll worker takes an oath, and you’re impugning that individual’s integrity as a poll worker,” she said. “They are trained, they take an oath, and they promise, and we’ve never had a problem. They do their job, they keep their mouth shut politically, and they go through the day.”

She added that if a committee member is on a ballot in a multi-precinct location, they will not work a scanner.

Gianangeli asked the board to consider the matter.

“I’m not here to start any problems, and I trust the integrity of the election,” he said, adding that the 24 races probably include few candidates who are also poll workers.

Shaheen said it was a fair request in this case.

“But if we have to go reassign every multi-site, I can’t get onboard with that,” Shaheen added.

After the meeting, Moore said the staff would review the Republican Central Committee candidates and, if there are any races where they are poll workers, they will be moved to a new location for primary Election Day on March 19.

“I don’t anticipate this being a problem in future elections. It tends to come during a presidential year when central committee members are on the ballots, because there’ll be a central committee member for every precinct out there,” Moore said. “It is our policy and the state policy that if a candidate is on the ballot that they are not in the precinct in which they are on the ballot.”

He added that early voting begins Feb. 21, and absentee ballots will be mailed out that day.

The board of elections office is located at 52180 National Road, St. Clairsville. The office can be reached at 740-526-0188.