Luzerne County Election Board approves data entry change

Luzerne County’s five-citizen election board has agreed to allow county staff to input data related to write-in votes and paper ballots in which voters selected too many candidates or made stray marks.

Past election bureau leadership turnover and the administration’s failure to supply adequate manpower had forced the volunteer board to take over the cumbersome task.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo committed to providing additional trained workers to free up the board.

The board unanimously voted last week to return to staff data entry and also approved standard operating procedures drafted by Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams and county Election Director Emily Cook.

Cook has stressed the board would remain in control of all decisions related to the acceptance and rejection of ballots and voter selections.

The data entry occurs in public during post-election adjudication, and several board members stressed they will still be present.

Board Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro said she supports the change because she will now be able to monitor the work of staff on multiple screens, which was not possible when she had to concentrate on inputting data at one station.

Board member Daniel Schramm concurred, saying the long days of data entry were tiring.

“I think I could see more if I am watching and observing,” Schramm said.

Board member Rick Morelli had pushed for the change, saying volunteer board members should not be expected to perform that work.

Williams has said the implementation of written procedures also will help future election overseers and end reliance on institutional knowledge.

Curing

The board had a lengthy discussion about Williams’ proposal to post online lists of voters who submit mail ballots with defects that would prevent their votes from being counted, such as missing inner secrecy envelopes.

Williams had asked the election bureau to look into this issue because she observed some other counties are posting such lists to alert voters so they can address the matter, known as curing. Voters may not receive or notice emails informing them of defects, she said.

In current practice leading up to elections, the election bureau follows state guidance and cancels mail ballots in the state tracking system if the county’s ballot sorting machine detects missing voter signatures or handwritten date issues on outer envelopes or missing secrecy envelopes.

Outer envelopes also contain a hole-punch showing whether secrecy envelopes are missing.

The bureau alerts impacted voters of fatal defects if they provided an email address on their mail ballot application.

Those receiving alerts of voided deficient ballots are able to appear at the election bureau to submit a new ballot or fill out a paper provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day. Provisional ballots are reviewed last by the board to verify nobody is voting twice.

Voters also can check the status of their mail ballot — including whether it is canceled due to deficiencies — through the online tracker at pavoterservices.pa.gov.

On Election Day, when ballots can be unsealed, the county election board also supplies lists of voters with ballot defects to party leaders so they can attempt to contact impacted voters and inform them of their option to cast a provisional ballot at the polls before 8 p.m.

County Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino told the board he would advise against publicly posting a list of voter names and deficiencies, and Election Director Emily Cook agreed with his recommendation.

While stressing she is against curing, Fusaro suggested another solution for the board to compile the list of defective ballots the day before the election for party leaders so they can have more time to reach out to impacted voters.

Williams said the effort could cut down on time the board must spend during adjudication painstakingly examining and ruling on defective ballots. There were approximately 350 to 400 defective ballots in this year’s primary, she said.

Williams said she will draft a proposed curing policy amendment to compile a list the day before the election.

Provisional signatures

A board majority also voted to seek a variance from the Pennsylvania Department of State permitting yellow highlighting of four lines that must be signed by voters and poll workers on the outer envelopes of provisional ballots.

However, the change, if approved, would not take effect for the Nov. 5 general election because the county already has envelopes prepared. Williams had offered to highlight them by hand if the variance is approved, but Cook said the envelopes already are sorted and packaged with other Election Day supplies for each polling place.

Williams had suggested the highlighting, saying the board is faced with provisional ballots missing outer envelope signatures after every election.

A missing voter signature is the subject of pending litigation in the April 23 primary election Republican race for state representative in the 117th District between incumbent Mike Cabell and challenger Jamie Walsh, who is in the lead. Lake Township voter Timothy J. Wagner had signed the outer envelope once but not a second time when he handed it to the poll worker. A decision on whether Wagner’s ballot will be accepted is pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.