Montco hires Kelly Green to head office of Voter Services

Montgomery County has hired the former president of the Philadelphia League of Women Voters to head its Voter Services Office.

The hiring of Kelly L. Green was approved less than a week after former journalist Michael Morsch left the post after seven months.

Commissioner Leslie S. Richards, who chairs the Election Board, said Green interviewed last summer and was one of the top candidates before the county hired Morsch.

Green, 41, of Philadelphia, has spent 20 years as a community organizer and consults for organizations on fund-raising, board development, and strategy.

She was on the board of the League of Women Voters from 1999 to 2011 and served as president from 2006 to 2011.

Richards said Thursday that she could not discuss Morsch's performance.

Morsch, however, said he was fired. "I don't believe I moved quickly enough to change the department," he said. "But I think change for the sake of change is not as wise as learning the job and learning the department, and then making effective change. And I think that takes longer than six months."

Green joins the county part-time at a salary of $43,000 while she wraps up existing consulting contracts, said Chief Clerk Lauren Lambrugo. She said none of Green's contracts was related to elections or county vendors.

Green will move to full-time status within six months, Richards said.

The commissioners also announced Thursday the expansion of a pilot program from November's election, in which voting-machine cartridges were tallied in Pottstown and results delivered electronically to the Voter Services office in Norristown.

Richards said the program brought faster results from the north end of the county. The county will add Willow Grove and Lansdale to the remote-reporting program for the May primary.

The county is also seeking proposals for a company to improve the presentation of election results on the county website. The system would post election results in real-time with trends, graphics, and maps instead of lists of numbers.

The board hopes to have such a system for the Nov. 4 gubernatorial election.