Seymour, Jefferson County's Republican election commissioner, leaving to take new position with state BOE in Albany

Mar. 1—WATERTOWN — Jefferson County's Republican election commissioner is leaving his post to take a job with the state Board of Elections in Albany. The deputy Republican commissioner will step up to co-lead the agency with the existing Democratic staff.

The move comes just over a month ahead of New York's presidential primary election on April 2, as the county Board of Elections is in the process of introducing new voting machines and comes just a few days after the congressional district lines were redrawn again, shifting some of Jefferson County into a different district.

On Friday, Commissioner Jude R. Seymour confirmed in an interview that he is taking a job as the deputy director of the Election Operations unit of the state BOE, headquartered at the board's downtown Albany offices. He was appointed to the position about a month ago, on Feb. 6.

Thursday night, the Jefferson County Republican Committee voted to nominate Maggie Meier, the current Republican deputy commissioner, to fill Seymour's seat. The Jefferson County Board of Legislators will vote Tuesday on the appointment, which is expected to be approved by the entirely Republican board.

Meier will take over immediately in the job, which is paid $62,792 this year. The deputy position Meier is leaving is paid $44,893 this year.

Seymour said the transition comes at a relatively challenging time. The county elections staff are preparing to administer both primary and general elections in a presidential year, when the largest proportion of voters typically turn out to vote. At the same time, the county is transitioning from using Dominion Voting Systems ballot counting machines to Clear Ballot counting machines, which requires a computer system changeover and training.

Additionally, New Yorkers are headed to the polls earlier than usual this year. The New York Republican and Democratic presidential primaries are set for April 2, while the primaries for state legislature, local races and Congress remain set for the end of June.

The soon-to-be Republican commissioner Meier joined the Board of Elections in September, overseeing the local primary races in November.

"It's probably more chaotic now than what she experienced last year when she came on board and was here for our general election," Seymour said. "That said, I have full faith and confidence that Michelle LaFave, our Democratic commissioner, and Maggie will be able to lead this office and everyone will be able to conduct a free, fair and open election, which has always been our goal here in Jefferson County."

Election boards in New York, both the individual county boards and the overarching state board, are run by an equal number of Republican and Democrat appointees, who oversee all aspects of the election process and certification.

In Jefferson County, Democratic Commissioner Michelle R. LaFave has been the lead Democrat on the board since the summer of 2020, while Seymour started in his position in 2015.

Meier said she is happy to take the leading role for her party in the Board of Elections, and feels ready to take on the responsibility with the support of her bipartisan colleagues.

She said she's long had a passion for voting and the American democratic process, and registered to vote right when she was eligible at 18.

"My family has worked for different county government positions, so it's been a big party of my life," she said. "I'm very excited to be able to be someone that can be a representative of the Republican party on this side of the office, it's a big honor for me," she said. "I've been a registered Republican since I was 18."

Meier, 31, grew up in Syracuse. Her father worked for the city of Syracuse, and later Onondaga County. She moved to Jefferson County three years ago with her husband, who is stationed at Fort Drum.

As the April election draws near, Meier said she and the Board of Elections team have been ensuring that election inspectors, the ground level staff who run polling sites and count votes, are familiar with the new Clear Ballot voting machines.

She said that training has been going for about two months now, and county inspectors are reporting they find the machines easy to use.

Registration clerks for both parties are preparing to send out poll site notifications to voters in Jefferson County, letting them know where their voting sites are. Last year, the board closed five polling stations across the county, including two in the city of Watertown.

The Board of Elections will meet on Monday, the last meeting with Seymour as a member, when officials will decide if they should keep those five sites closed. Seymour said Friday that his intention is to keep those sites closed.

The congressional district lines in Jefferson County have adjusted slightly between this year and 2022, when the current representatives were elected.

The 24th Congressional District, represented by Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland, has picked up parts of northern Jefferson County around the town of Alexandria currently represented in the 21st Congressional District by Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro.

That line switch means ballots for specific voting precincts will have to be adjusted, and voters have to be notified.

The new maps introduced in 2022 were part of the reason those five polling sites were closed last year.

Meier said that she may have a bit of an expanded workload this year, handling both deputy and lead commissioner responsibilities while she and the party work to find someone to fill the deputy position.

She said she's anticipating a busy election year, with three separate elections scheduled between now and November, culminating in a presidential election.

"A lot of people do wait till a presidential year to go out to the polls, so I'm expecting to see more foot traffic than we usually do," she said. "But it's nothing the people in this office haven't seen before, and I think they're all really well prepared for it already."

In his new role with the state board in Albany, Seymour said he will be working with local election boards to assist with many of the functions of an election, from ballot machine certification that ensures counting machines are accurate, secure and ready to use, to providing guidance to local boards on federal and state voting regulations.

"There will be a lot that's new to me, but I am looking forward to the challenge for the opportunity to grow in the job," he said. "This has been fantastic, but there really is no position above commissioner here in Jefferson County, so this is an opportunity to take myself out from under that ceiling."

Seymour has been in the north country for almost 20 years, first working as the political reporter for the Watertown Daily Times in 2005, then for WWNY-TV, Channel 7 News for a few months in 2011. He then worked for Matt Doheney's congressional campaign in 2011 and 2012, then was communications director for state Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, in 2013 before he took a job at the Board of Elections in 2015.

As the Republican elections commissioner, Seymour has been relatively visible for Jefferson County voters.

In one notable conflict in 2019, Seymour differed with his former Democratic colleague's interpretation of Watertown's nonpartisan election laws regarding the number of candidates who can advance from the open primary to the general election.

A tie between the two second-place candidates led to an $8,900 legal bill for Seymour that he asked Jefferson County to pay. The county ended up settling with Seymour for a lesser sum.

Seymour again entered local headlines last year, when he suggested that a billboard put up by local developer P.J. Simao attacking former Watertown Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith, and then-candidate for mayor Sarah V. Compo Pierce, could potentially be an illegal political advertisement because it made a political statement without notifying readers who paid for the ad.

Seymour said he will miss the place that became his unexpected home, and has felt the sadness around him with the announcement of his departure.

"When I tell people, it's almost struck a funerary tone," he said. "I have had a tremendous working relationship with Michelle, my Democratic colleagues, and all the other ladies in this office."

He said Watertown has been his home longer than anywhere else in his life so far, and he will always retain fond memories of it.

"I'm grateful to have had many different jobs over my time here, and this opportunity for me to advance in a professional capacity excites me, it's a job that makes a difference," he said.