A drop box at Luzerne County’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre is seen in this file photo.
Two Luzerne County Election Board members — Republican James Mangan and Democrat Audrey Serniak — will review some mail ballot drop box surveillance footage from the 2022 general election and 2023 primary to see if anything is amiss, the board unanimously decided Wednesday.
The board also agreed a bipartisan board team will continue spot-checking footage as soon as possible after each future election.
Mangan suggested zeroing in on the busiest days at each drop box for the review, with a plan to report observations back to the full five-member board. Dates and times of potential infractions, if any, would be logged for possible referral to law enforcement.
He said the board had agreed to require surveillance of all drop boxes and has an obligation to take a look at some of the resulting footage.
The team will be looking for voters dropping off batches of ballots.
Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions are for disabled voters who complete a designated agent form to have someone deliver a ballot on their behalf. A person serving as a designated agent is only permitted to serve as an agent for one voter unless the additional voter(s) live in the same household, such as an elderly couple.
Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the random checks may result in no findings of irregular activity, which could help counter regular assertions that drop boxes are used for “ballot harvesting.”
“Maybe this could put it to rest,” she said, adding the team also should be on the lookout for any people inappropriately “hanging around” a drop box or attempting to tamper with a drop box.
Board members Serniak, Daniel Schramm and Alyssa Fusaro also spoke in favor of Mangan’s proposal.
The county currently has drop boxes at Misericordia University in Dallas, the Wright Manor assisted living facility in Mountain Top, the county-owned Penn Place Building at the corner of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre and the county-owned Broad Street Exchange in downtown Hazleton.
Nov. 7 general election mail ballots are expected to be authorized for release on Friday, which means voters could be receiving them by the end of next week, officials said.
Investigations
The board also unanimously voted Wednesday to ask the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office to investigate ballot drop box issues from the November 2021 general election and 2022 primary and general elections.
Williams said the board had referred the matters to county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce, and he has not responded to several requests on the status.
Fusaro said the board’s referral “needs to be escalated” so board members can say they exhausted all efforts if there is evidence of criminal activity and the statute of limitations runs out.
Williams said the board should receive some information on the outcome. The lack of closure allows drop box critics to continue the “narrative” that something nefarious occurred, she said.
The November 2022 referral involved a report from election workers that someone deposited four ballots in the counter-top drop box inside the election bureau. Those ballots were segregated.
One 2022 primary election referral stems from a voter who tore up and discarded two ballots at Penn Place when an election worker asked him if he had an authorization form for the second one. These ballots could not have been counted regardless because they were not enclosed in required inner secrecy envelopes, officials had said.
Also referred was the case of a woman who brought four ballots to Penn Place but did not furnish an authorization form for the other three. Those ballots were segregated.
The November 2021 general election case involved a woman, reportedly from a nursing home, who had deposited or attempted to deposit multiple ballots at Penn Place.
Polling place changes
The board approved four polling place changes for the upcoming Nov. 7 general election:
• Kingston Borough Ward 5 — Kingston VFW Post 283, 757 Wyoming Ave. (previously the Kingston Municipal Building)
• Lehman Township District 01 — Lake Silkworth Volunteer Fire Dept., 1859 State Route 29, Hunlock Creek (previously Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish)
• West Hazleton Wards 1 and 2 — West Hazleton Borough Building, 100 S. Fourth St. (previously West Hazleton Elementary/Middle School)
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
