Elections Court Judges Stay Busier with 'Angry Birds' Than Angry Voters

Complaints and problems at the polls were few today at the Allegheny County Elections Court,  where judges were on duty through the day to hear and address election-related challenges. 

Through the day, Common Pleas Court judges and lawyers worked in shifts at Elections Court in the City-County Building, Downtown, to respond to questions or challenges posed by voters who telephoned or showed up in person.

As of 8 p.m. when the polls closed, the Elections Court had just three visitors and issued only one order to the elections board of the 1st Ward, District 1, and 1st Ward, District 5 in Wilkinsburg. The court’s lone order, issued around 4:30 p.m., reiterated rules against electioneering within polling areas. 

It involved a complaint from Marc Taiani, an attorney and candidate for magisterial district judge, who arrived and testified that two election judges at the polls said negative things about him and positive things about his opponent, incumbent Kim M. Hoots, in front of roughly a dozen voters. Taiani also admitted he wore a campaign T-shirt and sticker into the polling area when he arrived to challenge five absentee ballots. 

Earlier in the day, the court also fielded calls about elections officials taking papers from Taiani’s poll watchers, but no one filed a formal complaint. Other calls dribbled in one or two at a time after long stretches of quiet.

Most involved questions about political signs near polling areas, and one inquiry involved a tent set up in  by campaigners who were trying to stay dry while handing out literature. One person sought and received an emergency absentee ballot, while another unsuccessfully argued that campaign signs were too close to the polls at Central Catholic High School in Oakland.

County lawyers also fielded calls from people who were unhappy to learn that Elections Court was the only one operating today and that other county courts were closed for business on Election Day. While the polls were open, judges and lawyers worked in shifts manning a bank of phones. During the down time, they teased each other, read newspapers, discussed “American Idol” and played the popular mobile phone game “Angry Birds.” 

“It’s been very quiet and uneventful,” said Common Pleas Judge Kathleen A. Durkin, who has served on the bench for 20 years and took the afternoon shift.

“I’ve always had in the past people who forgot to register, and I haven’t had any of those," she said. "I’m amazed.”