GENESEO, NY — Democratic Livingston County Commissioner of Elections Susan Guenther will be retiring on Dec. 30. after 25 years at the Board of Elections. For 15 of those years, Guenther has served as commissioner.
Geunther has a strong Democratic Party legacy. Her mother was a Quirk, one of the county’s prominent Democratic families.
“I was out helping with campaigning and putting signs up since I was a little girl,” she recalls.
Susan took a “temporary” job at the board of elections when her uncle and then-commissioner Barrett Quirk needed an assistant because his deputy was retiring.
After ten years as deputy, Guenther received the Democratic Party nomination and the Livingston County Board of Supervisors approval to serve as election commissioner — and was so named to four year terms four times.
The changing voter
In her 25 years of overseeing elections, Guenther has observed a change in voter sophistication.
“Most would draw a straight line, right across on the lever machine, for one party,” she notes. “Now people are more involved. They study the candidates more than they ever have.”
Voters are also more aware of how a person qualifies to be on or off a particular ballot line in caucus procedures and petitions, Guenther added.
Guenther considers this to be a healthy change, but is concerned about apathy in younger persons.
“We seem to be loosing the young people’s interest in the voting process, “ she said. “It worries me.”
Both commissioners have tried to counter this tendency by making themselves available for speaking engagements in local high schools.
“We go out and register senior high school students to vote, talk to them about the election processes,” Guenther reports.
While there is high awareness of the presidential, and to some extent, the gubernatorial election on the part of young high school and college persons, there seems to be little interest in local and state levels of government.
Guenther has heard “we don’t want to get involved” as a rationalization from young persons for their political disinterest. She suspects that, in many cases, these young people are very unaware of how greatly local government and its elected representatives impact their lives.
“They need to understand they have to get involved at the grass roots level to bring about changes,” she suggests. “They don’t seem to know how important it is to vote, or how much influence as voters that they have.”
The commissioners also make a point to speak with senior citizen groups, the opposite end of the voter spectrum
Yet another change in the voter profile is the increasing number who choose to register, but remain unaffiliated with any political party.
The old tracking system, which struck a voter off the registration list if he failed to vote for four successive years, has been eliminated in favor of a system which retains the voter’s registration so long as he keeps the same address. As a result, the influence of the former ‘hard line’ group of regular voters is being diluted by a new element.
Growing responsibilities
During Guenther’s time in office, the Board of Elections moved from its quarters in the former Geneseo SNF building to more spacious offices in the new Government Center.
More significantly, the BOE has taken on increased responsibilities. Beginning with Livonia in the early 1990s, village elections have been turned over to the Board of Elections one-by-one, until all nine Livingston County village elections are under BOE domain.
More recently the Board of Elections has taken charge of running general election polling sites and training and employing the inspectors. With the recent introduction of the new electronic voting machines, BOE employs two part time technicians to program and check the machines, now all stored in a central location at the old Geneseo SNF building. The new machines demand a secured and clean temperature and humidity controlled environment and regular three month testing.
Along with the responsibility for overseeing inspectors and polling places, the Board of Elections now has jurisdiction over voting districts. The BOE can determine the geographic boundary of districts and number of voters contained therein.
After the census, the Board of Elections will likely be exercising this power, redefining and enlarging districts in accord with the more efficient capabilities of the electronic voting machines, Guenther predicts. Districts will be growing from a maximum of 950 voters to 2500.
A tradition unique to Livingston County, beginning about 25 years ago, is for the commissioner to be present at all of his or her party caucuses.
“We are there, off to the side, strictly as advisors,” Guenther explains. “If they need us; if a question arises, we’re there. We’re able to address it right then.”
As commissioner, Guenther oversees one of the last remaining home polling places in the United States, the Blakely residence in Avon. With handicap accommodation in place and the blessing of the family, there are no plans to replace this site.
A major component of the commissioners’ responsibility has been and continues to be the preparation of the statement of canvass: The summary of what has occurred at the polls during an election. The commissioners determine the validity of affidavit ballots and check that inspectors have correctly tallied the vote.
“We rework and review the whole election to make sure that everything is properly done,” Guenther said. Then both commissioners will sign off on the results.
Staying in Livonia
“It has been a privilege to have been able to have this job,” Guenther reflected. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with wonderful people I otherwise would never have been able to meet.”
“I hope I have served them well.”
Geunther’s deputy, Laura Schoonover, will be recommended by the Democratic Party to fill out the remaining year in Guenther’s term.
Susan and husband Fritz, a retired banker, have two grown sons, Mark and Patrick, both living in the area.
The couple plan to stay right in their native Livonia in their retirement years, intending “to do a little traveling and just relax.”
Story originally appeared in our Dec. 10 print edition.
