Luzerne County Election Board set to address ballot questions Wednesday

Luzerne County’s Election Board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on certifying Nov. 7 general election ballot questions in Jenkins Township, Nanticoke and the county.

The county referendum is the most complicated because it would reconstitute the election board itself and requires voters to decide if they want to make several changes.

Election board members must certify the wording of all ballot questions and a “plain English” explanation of the purpose, limitation and effects of ballot questions, the county law office has indicated.

In Jenkins Township, the ballot question asks voters if they will allow the township to raise taxes 0.5 mill solely to provide dedicated funding to emergency services.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property, and 0.5 mill would equate to $50 more annually for a property assessed at $100,000.

Nanticoke City Council is proposing questions asking voters if they want to eliminate city home rule charter term limits for city council and the mayor.

The city’s charter currently limits both city council members and the mayor to three consecutive, elected terms.

County question

A county council majority had voted in June to approve Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr.’s ballot question asking voters if they want to reconstitute the five-citizen election board.

The referendum asks voters, in part, if they want council to appoint the fifth election board member of any affiliation instead of leaving that choice up to the four council-appointed members (two Democrats and two Republicans).

This fifth board seat also would be filled every two years instead of four years, and the fifth member also would not automatically serve as board chair as stated in the charter. Instead, board members could select any board member as chair.

The amendment also would vacate the current election board in January if the question passes, although council members have stressed current members would be free to reapply.

While these alterations have been highlighted at length, there are other proposed changes that stand out when the current charter wording is compared to the new version:

• As currently written, citizens are ineligible for appointment to the election board if they have, within the last four years, held any elective public office or public employment or served as an officer in a political party or as a member or employee of any county board/authority/commission.

Also prohibited during this four-year window is work as a paid consultant for the county or its outside boards and employment or compensation by an individual or business that served as a contractor to the county or its outside boards.

The proposed amendment keeps these restrictions, but only going back two years instead of four. It also clarifies that paid election poll workers would no longer be considered county employees.

• The charter currently says an election board seat becomes vacant if a board member files a petition for nomination or election or becomes a candidate for any elective public office.

Under the proposed redo, this restriction is removed.

• Election board members must have been a member of the same political party continuously for at least five years prior to their appointment, according to the current charter wording.

This continuous registration requirement would be reduced to three years with the amendment.

Instead of asking voters to individually vote on each of these changes, the county’s law office is proposing a general ballot question, based on the one in council’s ordinance. This question cites the proposed council appointment of all five board members while specifying the entire amendment is set forth in council’s ordinance.

The law office also prepared an “explanation of ballot question” — known as a plain language explanation— outlining the changes in more detail. Plain language explanations appear in legal advertisements and are posted at polling places but do not appear on the ballot with the question.

The suggested explanation says an entire section of the charter would be deleted and replaced with another one covering minimum qualifications for election board members, how they are appointed, organization of the board and restrictions.

Wednesday’s election board meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for attending remotely are posted under council’s authorities/boards/commissions online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.

The election board had cancelled a July 31 special meeting to consider requesting an outside legal opinion on the legality of the proposed charter amendment reconstituting the election board.

The county law office sent a communication informing the election board it does not have legal authority to obtain outside counsel or reject council’s legislative decision to place the question on the ballot.