WOBURN - The setting was the noontime luncheon for 27 student government students from Woburn Memorial High School and the question being asked was: "How many of you are thinking of pursuing government work as a career?"

One student raised a hand!

The event at the Radisson Hotel was a noontime luncheon by the Woburn Rotary Club at a traditional dinner featuring Michael V. Sciortino, the Director of the Mahoning, Ohio County Board of Elections.

Sciortino was at the epicenter in the "battlefield sate of Ohio" in the Bush-Kerry presidential race.

Sciortino smiled but then confided: "I never gave it a thought either when I was in college at Ohio State!"

At the 52nd Annual Student Government Day dinner, Scortino was introduced by Woburn City Clerk William Campbell, who is on a national board with the embattled election official, who continually had Pres. George Bush Republican representatives, along with those of Mass. Sen. John Kerry in his office (and offices around the county) in an oft-time acrimonious atmosphere over voter irregularities, including long lines, heavy-handed tactics on voters and a major dispute over provisional ballots.

In the end, Kerry graciously capitulated and did not ask for a recount.

In Boston, Sciortino pointed out, there were meetings to try to make the next presidential election go more smoothly. A number of suggestions, including more computer-styled voting, are in the forefront.

He is currently in Boston with the Executive Board of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission as its chairman. Early Tuesday, he testified at a public hearing in Boston and agreed to stay an extra day to bring his experience and wisdom to the Woburn students.

Sciortino is currently Director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections in Ohio, and is serving as Ohio's local election official on the United States Election Assistance Commission's Standards Board and Chairman of the Standards Board Executive Committee.

In 2004, Sciortino served as president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. He has testified before the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate Joint Committee on Ballot security on numerous occasions dealing with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (WPAT) and other electronic voting issues.

He also spearheaded H.B. 262, an Ohio election reform bill, which primarily authorizes county and municipal workers to work as poll workers on Election Day.

Sciortino successfully implemented Touch-Screen voting in the 2001 elections and served as Deputy Director of Elections in Mahoning County from 1996 to 1999.

Sciortino has served as president of the Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, is a member of the Ohio and Mahoning County Bar Associations and a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

Change of style

Normally, a regional or state official has talked to students on Student Government Day.

However, Campbell noted the nice fit to have Sciortino. "All good things happen for a reason," smiled Campbell, who pushed back the dinner one day to accommodate Sciortino.

Back in 1988, Sciortino confessed as a similar high school student, he took no interest in working for government but did earn a degree in Political Science and a Masters in Public Administration.

"I did my interning with the county commissioner's officer," Sciortino related of his first real experience with government. "What I did find out is that government needs fresh ideas from people like you," he said encouraging students to follow a similar path.

The trip, he said, should be one of a constant dialogue and a to have a life-changing experience. Involvement is important, he told the students, and "it turns out not so much what you know but the contacts you make."

"There's no perfect election system anywhere in sight," he sighed.

Back in 2000 in the presidential election, there were changes when Al Gore won the popular vote by 650,000 votes but problems re-appeared again in 2004 despite warnings there would be delays and challenges.

In the end, Sciortino, who met Kerry six times and Bush twice, said there was a steady parade of Democratic and Republican committee representatives in-and-out of his office on election day and days thereafter.

"It was interesting," he confessed. "There was some interfering with voters but in a democracy, we must come to deal with this and resolve it."

On a question from Mayor John Curran, Sciortino said there were delays of an average of 25 minutes "but higher in college towns." Some polls, he noted were still open 90 minutes after closing time and the latest was "sometime around 2 a.m. at one poll."

All the problems, he said, were unacceptable.

At around 7:30 p.m., poll workers asked voters to form lines and there was a cut-off but the system couldn't handle the numbers of voters trying to get in.

As for Ohio itself, he said he followed the "red, blue, white etc." throughout the campaign and he said he could not have forecast how Ohio would vote. "I had CNN on in my office to the early morning hours," he confided to Woburn seniors. "I think we did well but I knew it would all come down to the final hours."

Sciortino also gave approval for the Electoral College process of enfranchising smaller states in the process.

On the issue of voting from the Internet, he added: "It could be done right now; the question is the 'how' to do it?"

As for media bias, he said he felt the coverage was fair.

Woburn students also had a chance to talk with Sciortino after the meeting, along with school officials such as Dr. Carl Batchelder and WMHS Principal Robert Norton in a packed dinner hall.