Onondaga County’s Republican Committee is meeting Saturday to choose a new elections commissioner. GOP county legislators declined to appoint Michele Sardo for a fifth two-year term, citing state intervention when the board staff struggled to process thousands of voter registration applications. Legislature chairman Tim Burtis says that elevated his concerns about board operations.
“This is not a personal attack. Michele Sardo is a wonderful person and this is not something that I would like to do," Burtis said. "But elections and campaigns and representation is very important, and I take it very seriously as an elected. We need to make sure that our community is very confident in our board of elections.”
Letters from the state in early October raised concerns about mismanagement, poor communication, and lack of productivity. The state sent in nine agents who helped clear the backlog of voter registration applications in a few days. Democratic Legislator Charles Garland says both current elections commissioners have repeatedly begged the Republican county executive and GOP-led legislature for more resources during budget season.
“They ask for more funding. They ask for more staffing. Unfortunately, they didn't get the things that they were asking for," Garland said. "So in essence, and I'd hate to say it, they were handicapped and then we complained that they were limping.”
For their part, Democrats chose to keep commissioner Dustin Czarny for another term. He was first appointed in 2013.
