Forks Township woman vows to protect votes in new campaign
In an election year when a pandemic has raised fears about voting in person at the polls and questions about mail-in ballots, many want to know the voting process is safe and secure.
OneLehigh Valley poll worker is assuring voters across Pennsylvania they have nothing to worry about.
“I’ll protect your vote just as if it was myown,” Forks Township Elections Judge Susan Glovas says in a new VoteSafe Pennsylvania commercial being shown statewide on Fox and digital platforms.
VoteSafe is a national bipartisan coalition formed this summer to promote “an efficient, accessible, secure mail-in ballot process and safe, in-person voting sites,” according to its website.
Its national Guardians of Democracy campaign has similar ads being shown across the country, with each ad featuring a poll worker from that state, VoteSafe Pennsylvania co-chairperson Patrick Murphy said.
“Our national ad campaign is in response to efforts by Russia and other foreign actors to dissuade the American people from voting in this year’s presidential election by telling them it’s unsafe to vote due to COVID and that their voices don’t matter,” Murphy said.
Glovas was more than ready and willing to do her part when VoteSafe contacted her in August about appearing in the 30-second ad, which shows 5-year-old granddaughter Addison helping her set up the polling location at the Forks Township Community Center.
A Cleveland native who moved to Forks Township 20 years ago, Glovas was raised on the importance of civic duty and community involvement, which is why she became a poll worker eight years ago.
“I have a great time doing it because I get to see a lot of my neighbors I don’t get to see,” she said. “You show up at 6 in the morning, do your job and go homeat 9:30 at night, exhausted, but it’s good because you’re helping people exercise their constitutional right.”
Murphy said Glovas was chosen for the ad campaign because of her reputation.
“Sue is one of our most dedicated judges of election,” Northampton County Registrar Amy Cozze said. “She takes it very seriously.”
More importantly, Glovas said, “I’m not shy about speaking up.”
Glovas was vocal in February in response to a lawsuit filed by voters advocacy groups and Pennsylvania residents to prevent reuse of electronic voting machines supplied by Nebraska manufacturer Election Systems & Software.
The lawsuit argued the machines malfunctioned during the 2019 general election, compromising voters’ privacy and improperly recording votes, forcing county officials to rely on backup paper ballots. The manufacturer attributed the problems to configuration issues that should have been detected before Election Day.
In a Feb. 7 opinion column, Glovas defended the electronic machines. She said they were brought in not because the old machines no longer worked, but because of new laws requiring Pennsylvania’s voting process to have a paper trail verifying and confirming votes.
“As one of the five judges of elections in Forks Township, I felt it was my duty to be involved as much as possible in getting trained and learning to use [the new machines],” Glovas wrote. “I personally felt the ES&S machine met the state requirements, as well as ease of use, and was the most similar to what the voters were familiar with.”
When VoteSafe told Glovas she had been chosen for the ad campaign, “I thought it was kind of cool. I thought they would have maybe two or three different people featured.
“I didn’t see it when it first aired, but my husband called to tell me it was on TV,” she said. “Many friends and acquaintances have gotten in touch with me since then and told me what a great commercial it is and how it strengthens their faith in the security of the voting process we have in place. And that’s what I really wanted, to let people know they don’t have to be scared.”
Glovas will always believe in the importance of voting.
“It’s so important that we citizens have a say in what happens at all levels of our government, but especially at the local level,” she said.
Morning Call reporter Andrew Scott can be reached at 610820-6508 or ascott@mcall.com.