Deep in the basement of the Pike County Administration building, two women in a tiny office handle all the details of the coming election for the, so far, 41,840 registered Pike County voters.
“We’re up to our necks in election preparation,” Nadeen Manzonio, Pike election technician said with a smile, about to answer the constantly ringing phone again.
Across the desk, Janice DeFebo, Pike County registrar, listens, laughs and keeps on working.
They are processing 2,000 voter registrations. Not all are new, some are address changes.
Plus, there are about 2,000 absentee ballots to handle.
The election mavens are gathering supplies to be shipped out to the polls. That includes putting together those poll books that election workers ask you to sign before casting your vote.
It is a lot of detail work, and if has to be perfect.
Pike County has 17,842 Republican voters; 15,397 Democrat voters; and 8,601 voters registered as independent or to a minor political party according to Manzonio.
Independents don’t get to vote in Pennsylvania primaries but they have much sway at the general election.
Assuming Republicans and Democrats all vote along party lines, and that is not a safe assumption, it would only take 2,445 Pike independents voting Democrat to tie things up.
Pike leans Republican, but because of independents, the county is definitely in play, heading into this election.
