Luzerne County Election Board reviews April 23 primary election plans

In its last public meeting before the April 23 primary election, the Luzerne County Election Board discussed the election bureau’s plans for staffing and other Election Day mechanics.

During public comment at the end of Wednesday’s meeting, county Controller Walter Griffith thanked everyone involved, including the five-citizen board, temporary workers, the law office, acting election director Emily Cook and acting deputy election director Steve Hahn.

Griffith said he’s observed Cook and Hahn “run all over the halls making sure things are done” to get ready for this “monumental event” that includes a presidential primary, home rule study commission referendum and other state and federal races.

This “takes a lot of cooperation” and “doesn’t just happen by itself,” Griffith said, noting he is offering his perspective as a county worker, elected official and resident. He said he hopes residents “can appreciate the work that gets put into making sure that this election goes as well as it can go.”

Griffith said the bureau, under the leadership of Cook and Hahn, has worked to double-check every requirement “to the best of their knowledge and to the best of their ability.”

“Hopefully on Election Day we’ll have a successful election and minimal problems, if any and people will be completely happy and satisfied with the hard work that was put into the process,” he said.

Cook told the board said she will have a final assessment of poll workers Friday to determine if there are any shortages that must be filled at any polling places.

If so, the election bureau will turn to citizens who have expressed an interest by submitting applications, she said. Poll worker interest forms are available on the election page at luzernecounty.org.

Poll worker participation in training has been strong, she told the board. An recording of training on the new electronic poll books used for voter sign-in also has been posted on the county site for poll workers unable to attend that training in person, she said.

The Election Day process to start unsealing mail ballot envelopes and scanning the ballots, known as pre-canvassing, is set to officially begin at 7 a.m. sharp in the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Cook said.

At least 25 temporary employees have committed to work so far — many with experience assisting in past elections, Hahn said. County employees from other departments also will assist as needed.

Pre-canvassing and the board’s post-election ballot adjudication process will be held in a larger third-floor room at Penn Place that had been used in the past.

Hahn and Cook also spoke about new procedures that have been set up to reduce the need for workers to repeatedly, manually count the number of ballots in each batch before they can advance through processing.

Speaking during public comment, prior election board member Audrey Serniak described the temporary workers as “unsung heroes” for their “long, tedious work” assisting in processing mail ballots.

These workers are under the election director’s supervision and take an oath.

The board’s public adjudication will start at 9 a.m. the Friday after the election (April 26) and continue as needed for more than a week to reach decisions on flagged mail ballots, provisional ballots, write-in votes and other issues.