Two of five Luzerne County Election Board seats expire the end of this year

Republican James Mangan, vice chairman of the five-citizen, volunteer county Election Board, said during last week’s meeting he won’t be seeking reappointment when his seat expires the end of this year.

Mangan said outside the meeting he made the decision, in part, because there are “too many personalities and issues.”

Democrat Audrey Serniak’s seat also expires the end of 2023. Asked about her plans after the meeting, Serniak said she intends to apply for reappointment.

Serniak is the most veteran seated board member, serving since July 2019.

At one point in 2021, Serniak was the lone seated election board member because the chair and vice chair had resigned, and council swiftly removed two others when those two named county Council Stephen J. Urban the new board chair against the solicitor’s repeated warning council members can’t serve on the board under the county’s home rule charter.

Mangan and Serniak hold two of the four seats (two Democrats, two Republicans) filled by county council.

The remaining two council appointees — Democrat Daniel Schramm and Republican Alyssa Fusaro — are in terms that do not expire until the end of 2025.

Denise Williams, a Democrat and board chair, serves through April 20, 2025.

This fifth board chairmanship seat is filled by other election board members instead of council. Serniak and three other prior board members had unanimously selected Williams as the fifth member in April 2021.

The independent board oversees elections and ballot adjudication and certifies election results.

County council is set to vote Tuesday night on the final step to rescind an ordinance that had attempted to place a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot asking voters if they want to reconstitute the election board.

A council majority voted last month to withdraw litigation council had filed against the county election board in August over the referendum, which would have allowed council to fill the fifth seat and vacated the currently seated board.

For the two seats opening in January, council Vice Chairman John Lombardo encouraged interested Democrats and Republicans to submit an application.

Applications are posted on council’s Authorities/Boards/Commissions section at luzernecounty.org.

Lombardo chairs the council committee that publicly interviews all applicants so they can be placed on an eligibility list that council uses to make appointments.

He advised interested citizens to consider their schedules before applying for the election board.

In addition to preparing for and attending regular evening board meetings, election board members must be available on Election Day and during the day for a little over a week to two weeks after each primary and general election for the adjudication process.

Aside from their work in the upcoming election, Mangan and Serniak have an additional upcoming assignment to review some mail ballot drop box surveillance footage from the 2022 general election and 2023 primary to see if anything is amiss.

The board also unanimously agreed last week a bipartisan board team will continue spot-checking footage as soon as possible after each future election.

Mangan said he wanted to implement the practice before he leaves, saying 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.