WELLSBORO Pa (WENY) - Election day is fifteen days away and six candidates are running for three Tioga County Commissioners seats.  On Monday, October 23rd, all six candidates gathered at Wellsboro Deane Center to answer the same six questions that were anonymously submitted by county residents. 

Candidates running for Tioga County Commissioner:

  • Joseph Druetto (D)
  • Shane Nickerson (D)
  • Marc Rice (R)
  • Sam Van Loon (R)
  • Gary Wilson (R)
  • Bob Goodrich (Constitution) 

Each candidate was provided two minutes to explain their ideal way to approach a concern. One question asked, how do you respond to voters who have concerns about election integrity? Republican Marc Rice and Democrat Shane Nickerson have similar opinions.

Rice says, "The folks that work the polls on election day, they are our family and friends, they are our neighbors and they do all they can to make sure that our election is fair and accurate. "

Nickerson says, "The beauty of our system is that it is local. "Those people that run our election are our friends and our neighbors and I really suggest anyone that questions it they should really become a part of the system."

Republican candidate Gary Wilson and Constituion write-in Bob Goodrich had opposing views. Their views looked at changing the way votes are tallied. 

Republican candidate Wilson told Tioga County, "I think you're going to have people you don't agree with when you're in office. 'Hey Doug, we are not going to spend a million dollars to buy all new machines, but what can we do to help our local citizens know their vote counted.'"

Goodrich from the constituion Party followed up and said he would completely change the system "In no place does it require machines. I would push for an individual hand count."

Democrat Joseph Druetto and Republican Sam Van Loon explained it comes down to a voter's knowledge and not who is counting the votes.

Democratic candidate Druetto said "People don't understand the system. They don't understand what they're doing. They have so many people that come into the poles and they need help, they need guidance, they just don't understand it and then unfortunately some of those same individuals go back and say I don't think that is right, I don't think things were done correctly."

Republican candidate Sam Van Loon added to Druettos point by saying "{you can go to the} county court house and you can go to the basement and they will show you the process, they'll show you machines. I went in there before {the} primaries and got a tour. Verify how they check them and it was very educational to see all that goes into them to make sure they are doing their best to certify and verify and run a very accurate voting here in our county." 

Jessica Sanstram is a general manager for the radio station KC101 and she told WENY News, that the goal of the question-answer forum was for the audience to walk away knowing more about the six candidates. Sanstram concluded by saying, hopefully, this installs more confidence in voters for when to go fill out their ballot.

Election day is on Tuesday, November 7th, 2023. For more information about the candidates and the position they're running for click here.