Lehigh County searching for new elections chief as primary election approaches

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared on Armchair Lehigh Valley and is being published on themorningcall.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters factual information in a nonpartisan way to help them make informed decisions at the polls. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by Publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein, two former Morning Call employees. Learn more about Armchair Lehigh Valley and subscribe here.Benyo leaves post as Lehigh County’s clerk of elections, registrations

Timothy Benyo, Lehigh County’s chief clerk of elections and registrations, has left his position to work for the Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that focuses on issues impacting voters.

Benyo has become the group’s senior adviser, election administration. His job includes working with election officials and policymakers, supporting poll worker recruitment and training initiatives, and advancing key election administration reforms.

“I’m honored to be part of an organization with such a long history of promoting my beliefs on free, fair, safe, and secure elections,” Benyo said in a statement.

“The people who worked alongside me for the past 20 years have provided me with this opportunity as well as great success in Carbon and Lehigh counties. I’m very excited to continue what was started at the county level and expand those successes throughout the Commonwealth at the Committee of Seventy.”

Benyo’s departure leaves the county without a chief clerk less than two months before the May 19 primary election where there are contested races in the 7th Congressional District, 16th and 18th state Senate districts, and the 22nd and 187th state House districts.

The county has posted the job on its website, listing a string of duties, educational background requirements and a salary of $36 an hour or $74,880 a year.

The office is being administered by Deputy Clerk Brianna Negron and interviews for the job will begin Wednesday, according to the county.

“Residents of the county should have full faith and confidence that we will have free, fair and thorough elections in Lehigh County as we work to replace Mr. Benyo,” Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel said in a statement.

Siegel praised Benyo’s time in Lehigh, saying his “steady hand helped guide the county through historic changes in Pennsylvania’s voting laws like no excuse mail-in voting and drop boxes to ensuring the integrity of our election’s process through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Benyo was hired by the county in January 2010. He previously served in the Army as an intelligence officer. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Kaplan University and an associate’s degree in computer networking from Allentown Business School.