MERCER Voting law to curb long line

The state will soon require machines specially equipped for the handicapped.
BY MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- Long voting lines at the polls in Delaware Township are unlikely to occur again because of a change in voting law.
At their meeting last week, Mercer County commissioners heard Dale Haws, a Delaware Township resident, complain that from 5:30 p.m. to closing in last month's general election, lines to vote at the township's precinct polling place were so long that many people left without voting. Delaware Township residents vote at St. John's Lutheran Church, Mercer Road, Greenville.
He said there was no machine breakdown or other factor to cause the delays. However, Commissioner Gene Brenneman commented that voter turnout in the general election was heavier than expected. Haws said that in any case, he thinks more machines are needed at the polling place. He pointed out that while only 500 voted in Hempfield Township, it has two machines. Delaware Township, where more than 1,300 voted, has only three machines.
Commissioners told Haws that the state is requiring another machine specially equipped for the handicapped at each polling place by the May 2004 primary and that the new machines will also be available to nonhandicapped voters. The state is supposed to provide grants to help buy the machines, but no further details are available yet.
Commissioner Kenneth Seamans commented that for the past two years, Elections Director Jim Bennington has asked for more voting machines and has been turned down because of budget restraints, a situation Seamans termed "inexcusable."
Oakland Avenue Bridge
Also at the meeting, commissioners approved an increase in the amount to be paid to Gannett Fleming Inc., Camp Hill, for engineering services for the Oakland Avenue Bridge project. County Engineer Mark Miller said the increase, from $349,286 to $431,466, is necessary because the firm has had to do extra work because of problems with the construction.
The project has been on hold since November 2001 when the contractor, Carmen Paliotta of Library, Pa., stopped work because of a misalignment of the bridge which gives it a slight "S" shape. Miller said that the increased costs which have resulted eventually will be reimbursed from "liquidated damages," which will come from the $650-per-day fines levied on the contractor because of the delay in construction.
No decision has been made on what will be done with the bridge. Bridge construction is being funded from federal and state sources.
Housing rehabilitation
Commissioners also approved the Mercer County Affordable Housing Fund Board's recommendation to fund $97,361 worth of housing rehabilitation in the boroughs of West Middlesex, Wheatland, Fredonia and Jackson Center and Fairview and Jackson townships. The money will fund improvements on houses erected in former industrial areas.
They also approved the board's recommendation to give $32,500 to Community Counseling Center toward construction of five homes in Farrell for mental health patients, as well as $150,000 to Southwest Gardens Economic Development Corp. toward the cost of additional housing in the area of Southwest Gardens.
All the affordable-housing funds come from an increase imposed two years ago on recording fees for deeds and mortgages.