Luzerne County will continue mail ballot deficiency curing for April 23 primary election

As in the past, Luzerne County will attempt to give April 23 primary election mail ballot voters an opportunity to “cure” deficiencies that would prevent their vote from being counted, officials said at this week’s county election board meeting.

Approximately 20,000 voters have requested mail ballots to date, and they are targeted to be sent the first week of April.

The first defects would be detected before Election Day by the election bureau’s ballot sorting machine: missing voter signatures or handwritten date issues on outer envelopes or the absence of a required inner secrecy envelope, known as a “naked ballot.”

Following state guidance, the election bureau will cancel such flagged ballots in the state tracking system and alerting impacted voters if they provided an email address on their mail ballot application, county acting election director Emily Cook told the board.

Voters also will be able to check the status of their mail ballot — including whether it is canceled due to deficiencies — through the online tracker at pavoterservices.pa.gov, Cook said, emphasizing voters also can use this site to verify their voter registration to ensure it is in order.

Those receiving alerts of voided deficient ballots will be able to appear at the election bureau to submit a new ballot or fill out a paper provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day. Provisional ballots are reviewed last by the board to verify nobody is voting twice.

On Election Day, a different process will be followed because mail ballots now enter the pre-canvassing stage, when they are opened and processed.

County Election Board members — always one Democrat and one Republican together — will compile lists of voters who submitted ballots with defects detected inside, including secrecy envelopes containing voter-identifying marks. New Election Day arrivals of mail ballots with outer envelope defects and missing secrecy envelopes also are added to the list.

These lists are then provided to party leaders around noon and 3 p.m. so they can attempt to contact the voters and inform them of their option to cast a provisional ballot at the polls before 8 p.m.

The election board had decided in the past it would vote before each election on whether it would compile these lists, known as “curing.”

At Wednesday’s board meeting, four of five board members voted to cure — Rick Morelli, Albert Schlosser, Daniel Schramm and Chairwoman Denise Williams.

Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro voted no, saying she has always been against the act of curing.

Fusaro said voters should have only one opportunity to submit a ballot.

“I feel like if you want to vote by mail, you should learn how to vote by mail and vote by mail correctly. I don’t think we should expend all of our time to be doing, fixing and helping and making all of these lists in order for someone to fix their mistake that they made that disqualifies their ballot,” Fusaro said.

Williams said she strongly disagrees and pointed out voters casting ballots at the polls can ask questions and receive assistance. Voters at the polls also can request voiding of their ballot marking device printout if they see a mistake or error so they can make selections again before locking in their vote, she said.

Compilation of a curing list is not a time-consuming hardship on the board, she said. Williams argued the mail ballot instructions are lengthy and said she wants to help ensure votes count.

Schlosser said he agrees with Williams.

“I don’t want to disenfranchise anybody if they make an honest mistake. You’re dealing with older people and people with disabilities. Give them a chance at it. It doesn’t matter what party they’re from. People make honest mistakes. I can understand that.”

Schramm said he votes by mail and was once contacted by the bureau because he missed the date.

“I know what it’s like to be old and missing things,” he said.

He said the first list takes a little over an hour for the board to compile, while the second takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Fusaro noted voters at the polls must complete their ballot on the spot, while mail voters have more time to make their selections and verify everything is in order.