The Warren County Board of Elections has had to replace the entire slate of poll workers for one of the county’s precincts just days before the election.

An emergency Board of Elections meeting was held on Thursday afternoon and was called under the county’s COVID-19 disaster declaration.

The change impacts the Warren South precinct, which is not located on the south side and is held at St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said the board needed to “seek significant legal counsel in this matter” and said filling a vacany is “not as simple as you might think.”

Solicitor Nathaniel Schmidt said that on Oct. 23 the board received an email from Marsha Nordstrom, the judge of elections for the precinct, which informed the board that neither she – nor the other poll workers – would be working the general election.

Concerns were raised by the poll workers about social distancing issues given their location at St. Joseph, where the Warren West precinct is also housed.

The board previously decided not to move the polling place in advance of next week’s election.

Schmidt said the Board of Elections decided not to move the polling place for continuity reasons – a move would have been the third straight election with a change for Warren South – and said the board will look at permanent options for the polling place for 2021.

He said the board has taken “all reasonable measures” to address the concerns raised by Nordstrom without success and, at this point, considers her email a “de facto resignation.”

Schmidt said the board considers the post vacant in part because Nordstrom and the staff have not completed required poll worker training.

The board suddently approved two motions – one to accept Nordstrom’s resignation and another to appoint a board of elections to conduct the election on Tuesday.

Schmidt said those offices will become vacant the day aftert the election and Elections Director Lisa Rivett said that the precinct staff would not participate in any kind of recount, should it be needed.

“I know Ms. Nordstrom really want(ed) to work the election,” Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said.

Eggleston explained that staff “tried repeatedly” to work with Nordstrom but said the board now “doesn’t have a choice” but to move in a different direction.

The individuals appointed include Kate C. Bowley as judge of elections, Jennie Schmidt as majority inspector, Cat Jackman as minority inspector and Sue Swanson as clerk.

Rivett said these individuals have completed the poll worker training that is required.

“The space that they have in that building is as big or bigger,” Eggleston said, as some other precincts. “Generally, everybody feels pretty comfortable with the space.”

He added that the Warren South space is similar to the space at the Head Start building where the polling location had previously been located.

“We feel very confident they’ll have plenty of space,” he said, indicating he will be there to help the precinct set up on election day.

Kafferlin said he “didn’t like the optics of moving the location” even if done 10 days ago and Rivett said there are many notifications that must be delivered when a precinct moves.