Politics & Government

MontCo Names New Voter Services Director

Michael Morsch, executive editor of Montgomery Newspapers, will run the department.

By Brittany Tressler

Michael Morsch, executive editor of Montgomery Newspapers and former editor of the Times Herald, has been named the Montgomery County director of Voter Services.

Morsch, who will make $75,000 per year, begins Aug. 5, according to Philly.com.

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Montgomery County Commissioner Leslie Richards said Morsch has already demonstrated the ability to work in an objective way, and can act responsibly in crisis situations.

Commissioner Chairman Josh Shapiro said the board went through a “thoughtful and deliberative process and settled on someone absolutely qualified and above reproach,” according to the Intelligencer.

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Morsch will fill the post held by Joe Passarella since 1994. Passarella was fired in April, and the commissioners offered no reason for the firing at it was a “personnel matter.”

In May, the Montgomery County Republican Committee sued Richards and Shapiro over the appointment of Democrat and former elected official and candidate Michael Paston as “acting director” of voter services.

Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Bob Kerns said Paston was illegally appointed with no vote from the salary board. Shapiro said the lawsuit was “wrong on the facts, wrong on the law.”

In June, Paston became the first deputy in the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts office.

Kerns, who withdrew his suit after Paston was transferred from the Voter Services office, said the new choice for director seems to be an improvement.

"While we don't know any more than the general public does about Mr. Morsch, at face value he is much better suited to the position than the recycled partisan hack he replaced," said Kerns. "We're optimistic that Morsch will administer the Voter Services operation in a fair, impartial, non-partisan manner as it was by Joe Passarella."


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