Lawrence County election officials said Monday they are prepared for the Nov. 4 election, and the county elections board approved its Sept. 23 minutes before recessing to the call of the chair.

Tim Germani, Lawrence County election director, told the Lawrence County Board of Elections that operations have gone "pretty well" in the lead-up to election day and that staff were distributing machines and supplies to polling sites. "So far, so good," Germani said.

Germani certified voter registration totals to the state, saying the county has 57,285 registered voters: "total registered democrats, 19,794; registered republicans, 30,131;" he also reported 259 registered Libertarians and 7,101 listed as other. He said the county received 6,476 mail-in ballot requests, with 5,183 returned and roughly 1,289 still outstanding as of the meeting.

The director announced three polling-place changes for this election: Newcastle High School voters in the Second Ward, First Precinct were moved to the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 110 East Lincoln Ave.; the Newcastle 41 polling place moved to New Creation 3 Methodist Church at 725 Pearson St.; and North Beaver Township 1 moved from the municipal building (under renovation) to North Beaver Fire Department at 969 Mount Jackson Rd. Germani said notices were mailed to affected voters.

Germani described the pre-canvassing process planned for the morning of election day. "Pre canvassing is where we will have a team of people in here. We will open the envelopes, sort the ballots so that your ballot is kept secret, and arrange it so that we'll be able to scan them, starting in the morning," he said. He said scanning will begin after pre-canvass work and that the office will perform multiple public result updates on the county website during the evening, with the first update consisting of mail-in ballots as required by law.

On observers, Germani said watchers must be designated by a party or candidate on letterhead to receive a watcher certificate; certified watchers may observe at their home polling place and one additional location, or at the pre-canvass. He said media and party chairs are permitted but must have the watcher certificate.

Germani also noted timelines for post-election processing: write-ins will be reviewed and posted online during the week after the election, military ballots will be counted after Veterans Day (Nov. 12), and provisional ballots and other canvass matters will be handled the following Friday. He asked the board to reconvene at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, in the same room to certify results.

Commissioners approved the minutes from Sept. 23 by unanimous roll call and later voted unanimously to recess the meeting to the call of the chair. Commissioner Kennedy praised election staff and volunteers, urging respect for workers who "are paid, but they're not paid a whole lot of money" and asking voters to treat them respectfully.

The director reminded voters that those who did not receive a mail-in ballot may cast a provisional ballot at polling places; voters who did receive a mail-in ballot but choose to vote in person should bring the mail-in envelope and ballot to the polling place so officials can remit the mailed ballot and issue an in-person ballot.

The board opened the meeting for public comment but recorded no public speakers. The meeting recessed with no additional business for the board.