Pittsfield Clerks Office Tests Ballots Ahead of Preliminary ElectionBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
04:41PM / Tuesday, August 29, 2023 | |
 City Clerk Michele Benjamin puts the balloting machines through their paces in preparation of Sept. 19's preliminary election. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City clerk's office is preparing for a seamless election by testing all of the voting equipment.
On Tuesday, City Clerk Michele Benjamin, Assistant Clerk Heather Brazeau and Registrar of Voters Clerk Joshua Munn tested the ward and precinct ballot machines. The city has seven wards with each having a Precinct A and B.
For Benjamin, this election is protocol as usual.
"It's the same thing all the time," she said. "We don't do anything different."
The state requires that all machines be tested before they are sent out to the polls. Zero tapes are run to prove that there is no data on the storage cards and 50 test ballots are run through.
"Then we zero it. We set it back to zero and we put a security tab in here and we pack them away," Benjamin said while giving iBerkshires a walk-through of the process.
"They are stored in the vault until they go to the polls on election day with a police officer and the warden, when they get there, they get the machine all ready, they plug it in, they have it on the ballot box and then they verify that it says zero."
Pittsfield residents will trim the ballot for the mayoral, Ward 2 and Ward 7 races in a preliminary election on Sept. 19.
Peter Marchetti, John Krol and Karen Kalinowsky are running to replace Mayor Linda Tyer, who is not seeking re-election.
Krol is a former city councilor and Marchetti and Kalinowsky are current city councilors. This is the second mayoral bid for both Marchetti and Kalinowsky.
In Ward 2, Soncere Williams, Alexander Blumin and Brittany Bandani are vying for the seat. Current Councilor Charles Kronick is not seeking re-election.
And in Ward 7, incumbent Anthony Maffuccio is being challenged by Jonathan Morey and Rhonda Serre.
The other races did not meet the criteria for a preliminary.
Assistant Clerk of Registrations and Elections Ashley Gangell reported that they have mostly all of the election worker spots filled but could use a few more inspectors.
"We should be all good for election day," she said.
The last day to register to vote for the preliminary election is Sept. 9. The general election is on Nov. 7.
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