Luzerne County Courthouse File photo Luzerne County may have four mail ballot drop boxes for the Nov. 5 general election.
Pennsylvania State Attorney General Michelle A. Henry issued a letter to county Manager Romilda Crocamo on Thursday informing her the county election board has sole authority over the deployment of drop boxes under the state election code.
“Should you fail to comply with a lawful instruction or order, the Board of Elections could take action, including filing a civil mandamus action to compel performance,” the letter said.
There are also potential criminal consequences for failing to comply, Henry wrote.
“Accordingly, we encourage you to continue to work with the Luzerne County Board of Elections to resolve the matter in accordance with the law,” said the letter, which was released by county Democratic Party Chairman Thomas Shubilla.
State Sen. Marty Flynn (D-Scranton) and Crocamo both sent letters last week asking state Attorney General Michelle A. Henry to investigate, with Flynn questioning the legality of the decision.
Crocamo has maintained she has authority over the matter under the county’s home rule charter because she is required to oversee personnel and security of county-owned property. She has said she discontinued the boxes primarily due to a fear they would be targeted, injuring people, property and the ballots inside.
Due to pending litigation, Crocamo referred comment to Attorney Mark Cedrone, of Saxton and Stump, who was retained by the county law office to represent her in a legal challenge the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania initiated over the drop box decision this week.
The ACLU is seeking reversal of Crocamo’s drop box cancellation in the county Court of Common Pleas on behalf of three mail ballot voters and the nonprofit In This Together NEPA.
A hearing is scheduled Monday before a panel of three county judges.
The county law office retained Attorney Joseph M. Cosgrove to represent the county’s five-citizen Election Board, which also is a defendant in the legal action because it is an “indispensable party to this action.”
Cedrone said Crocamo will “cooperate with any lawful order” and emphasized that she sought the Attorney General’s Office review for guidance.
“She’s not going to disregard reasonable directives from the election board,” Cedrone said. “She has legitimate concerns about these drop boxes and has expressed those concerns and is looking at a way to balance those concerns with any authority of the board. We’re hoping that we can resolve this in a way that can avoid this contest and at some point move on.”
Cedrone said analysis must consider whether there is any check and balance over the ability of five volunteer citizens — in this case a majority of three — to have “unfettered control over the election mechanics and economics.”
“That seems a little bit bizarre,” he said.
He presented an imaginary scenario, questioning whether the manager would be lawfully forced to comply if a board majority decided to implement a drop box “on every street corner” manned by a county-funded security guard.
“Would that be a lawful order?” Cedrone asked. “I believe there has to be some reasonable overlay to the dispatch or exercise of this authority that this board appears to have. What’s the checkpoint for that?”
Cedrone added Crocamo must consider security and staffing and the impact on county finances. He takes issue with arguments from drop box supporters that she is trying to disenfranchise voters.
“Romilda Crocamo is going to be a responsible county manager and do what she is obliged to do under the law and circumstances, keeping in mind she has to balance and consider fiscal and security issues and make sure the election proceeds smoothly,” he said. “This is about safety, economics and viability. This is a real quandary with a lot of competing considerations.”
Election board
Luzerne County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams is seeking a board vote next week on enhanced security measures that would be implemented if the board’s directive stands to provide four mail ballot drop boxes for the Nov. 5 general election.
Meanwhile, Election Board member Rick Morelli has called for a vote to eliminate the drop boxes, saying a fresh decision is warranted in light of security concerns Crocamo presented in executive session. Morelli said board members must be “held accountable” if they support the boxes and “something happens.”
In February, the election board voted 3-2 along party lines to reject a motion to eliminate all four drop boxes.
Republican board members Alyssa Fusaro and Morelli supported getting rid of the boxes, while the three Democrats wanted to keep them — Williams, Albert Schlosser and Daniel Schramm.
Williams, Schramm and Schlosser all said Crocamo’s security briefing did not change their belief that the four boxes should be provided to voters as they were in prior elections. Fusaro said she agrees with Morelli that Crocamo’s concerns have credence warranting cancellation of the boxes.
The board is meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
The boxes were in the Wright Manor senior living facility in Mountain Top, Misericordia University’s Passan Hall in Dallas and two county-owned properties — the Broad Street Exchange in Hazleton and Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre.
Hoping that the board’s directive to provide four drop boxes will prevail, Williams said Thursday she is proposing recommending the county administration provide the following security measures in addition to 24/7 video surveillance recording of the boxes already provided:
• Placement of two trained and sworn-in county sheriffs, constables or “contracted licensed/certified security guards” at all four drop box sites for the Nov. 5 general election and all elections going forward, funded by the county’s State Election Integrity Grant.
• Reducing the drop-off hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at three of the four sites — Wright Manor, Misericordia and the Broad Street Exchange — in response to the added staffing. In past elections, these boxes were open weekday evenings and on weekends at Misericordia and Wright Manor.
The box in the main lobby at Penn Place, which houses the election bureau, was open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and until 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is the deadline for mail ballots to be physically in the election bureau.
• Removing all mail ballots from all drop boxes at the end of each day following chain-of-custody procedures currently in place and immediately returning them to the election bureau. Previously, ballots were not removed from boxes every day.
• Providing and requiring use of personal protective equipment — such as gloves, eye shields and masks — to personnel transferring mail ballots in and out of ballot transfer bags.
• Locking ballot boxes at the end of each day.
Even if these added measures don’t pass, Williams said she is comfortable with existing protocols, which conform with Pennsylvania Department of State guidelines.
Williams said Thursday that 17% to 24% of mail ballot voters have used drop boxes since statistics were kept starting with the 2021 general election.
“That’s a significant number of mail ballot voters,” Williams said Thursday. “Let’s talk about what we can do to ease everybody’s concerns.”
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