Election board chair seeks drop box legal advice

Luzerne County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams publicly requested a legal opinion Wednesday on recent resolutions banning mail ballot drop boxes in Lehman and Dallas townships.

Speaking during Wednesday’s election board meeting, Williams said she learned of the bans from a resident and received no response to her written request for an opinion from the county law office.

County Assistant Solicitor Paula Radick repeatedly said in the meeting the county law office is not issuing an opinion on the matter because it does not affect the county election bureau or election board at this time.

The county’s drop box at Misericordia University is not impacted because it is located in the Dallas borough portion of the campus — not the Dallas Township section.

Dallas Borough Manager/Secretary Tracey M. Carr said Wednesday afternoon borough council did not take action related to drop boxes when the subject came up before the November general election. Borough council had nothing on its Wednesday night meeting agenda involving drop boxes, Carr added.

Drop boxes will be set up soon because the county election bureau is set to start mailing May 16 primary election ballots next week to voters who requested them, said county Election Director Eryn Harvey. In addition to Misericordia, drop boxes will be available at the Wright Manor assisted living facility in Mountain Top and two county-owned properties — Penn Place in downtown Wilkes-Barre and the Broad Street Exchange in downtown Hazleton.

Williams expressed disagreement with Radick’s position that the board is not affected by the two township resolutions.

The resolutions may be an “overstep” because the county election board has the authority to determine if and where drop boxes are provided when a suitable site is willing to host one, Williams said.

Williams asked if the board can request an outside legal opinion.

Radick said the board can if it has the budget to pay for it.

Williams said that isn’t an option and leaves the board “stuck” and forced to “take what you tell us.” She asked if she can request state guidance as an election board member.

Radick said that is allowable. Williams said she will follow up with the state because the municipalities have now passed outright bans. In comparison, some past resolutions were described as bans but actually only urged state legislators to take action on no-excuse mail ballots and/or drop boxes.

The resolutions in Dallas and Lehman townships are similarly worded, saying township supervisors declare no ballot drop boxes shall be allowed in their municipalities in this current election or any future elections “unless compelled to do so by Pennsylvania statute or by official legal authority.”

Lehman Township Supervisor Chairman David Sutton said Wednesday afternoon the township does not want a drop box, largely due to concerns about Right-to-Know requests and legal liability that had prompted Pittston officials to stop the city-owned Pittston Memorial Library as a drop-box location.

“It’s not political,” Sutton said of the action.

Because supervisors are the “highest authority” governing the municipality, they wanted to make it clear to the county that they do not want a box within their jurisdiction, he said.

If the county election board someday decided it wanted a drop box in the township, the municipality would have to deal with the legal questions at that point, he said.

“There is already a drop box in Lehman Township. It is called a mail box,” Sutton said.

But drop box advocates have pointed out mail ballots sometimes arrive too late to return them through regular mail or that some voters have more confidence their ballot will get to the election bureau through a drop box.

Sutton maintained there already are a sufficient number of drop boxes and argued counties should get mail ballots out sooner if the return time is an issue.

Harvey has said the April 26 mailing of ballots falls before the state’s May 2 deadline. Voters also should receive ballots faster because they will be processed through the Lehigh Valley instead of originating out-of-state due to a printing vendor change, she has said.

Mail ballots must be physically in the election bureau by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Dallas Township solicitor Thomas Mosca could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday on the legal issues related to the drop box ban there.

When the issue came up in October, Mosca had said he was not advising a township drop box ban at that time because it was “not within the power of a municipality to ban something like that.”

“This involves election law, and a municipality does not have the option to alter it,” Mosca had said at the time. He called for state legislators to address drop boxes and provide clear direction to all. The way it stands, a state Supreme Court decision allowed boxes, but they are not required, he had said.

Polling places

In other business, voters in seven voting precincts will have new polling places in the upcoming primary election because the locations used in the November 2022 general election are no longer available.

The changes, unanimously approved by the election board:

• Bear Creek Village (previously St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church) — Bear Creek Club House, 125 White Haven Rd., Bear Creek

• Wilkes-Barre Ward 5 (previously Dan Flood Elementary School) — St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church, 695 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre

• Wilkes-Barre Wards 10 and 11 (previously Heights Murray Elementary) — the former Marymount School, 154 S. Hancock St., Wilkes-Barre

• Hazleton Ward 5 (previously Holy Rosary Church) — Terrace Plaza, 601 S. Poplar St., Hazleton

• Wright Township Districts 1 and 2 (previously township volunteer fire department) — Crestwood Middle School gym, 281 S. Mountain Blvd., Mountain Top

New voter identification cards will be promptly sent to all impacted voters, Harvey said.

A list of all polling places is posted under the election bureau’s 2023 primary election link at luzernecounty.org.

Election Board member Alyssa Fusaro emphasized the board must approve all polling places by law and criticized the administration’s decision to inform council and the media of some of the changes last week before the board’s Wednesday vote. The public would be unnecessarily confused if any of the announced changes were not ultimately approved, she said.

Williams said she understands the administration wanted to alert the public but questioned why county Acting Manager Brian Swetz’s email about the changes went to county council and the media but omitted the election board.