Luzerne County plans to issue Nov. 5 general election mail ballots within week

Luzerne County should start issuing Nov. 5 general election mail ballots within seven days to voters who requested them, county Election Director Emily Cook said Monday.

Updates on voter registration counts and processing also were released Monday.

The county’s five-citizen election board unanimously approved the ballot Monday morning — a step necessary to print mail ballots and program the ballot marking devices used at polling places.

More than 26,300 voters have requested mail ballots to date, according to a figure released last week.

County officials have pushed to get mail ballots out well before the Oct. 22 state deadline so voters have sufficient time to return them by regular mail. Returned voter-completed mail ballots must be physically in the bureau by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, and postmarks do not count.

As previously reported, County Manager Romilda Crocamo has cancelled the four mail ballot drop boxes for this election, citing security and staffing concerns.

Voters will have the option to bring their ballot to the election bureau on the second floor of the county’s Penn Place Building, located on the corner of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre, the administration said.

Crocamo said plans are under review to expand election bureau hours for voters to deliver their ballots, with details to be announced once they are finalized.

Disabled voters can have someone return the ballot on their behalf if they complete a designated agent form, which is available at pa.gov.

Drop-box briefing

Crocamo briefed election board members on drop box security concerns and alerts she has received during a closed-door executive session before Monday’s meeting.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis brief issued in early September that was reported by at least one media outlet elsewhere in the country specifically warned that some social media users are promoting destruction of ballot drop boxes.

Drop boxes may be perceived as “soft targets” because they are more accessible, it said. The alert detailed a range of specific destruction methods being discussed in online forums over the last six months in addition to tactics and techniques to “limit or avoid detection.”

Following Monday’s confidential briefing, Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said she still believes other solutions could be implemented to address concerns.

Williams also said the administration is required to carry out the board’s directive to provide the four boxes. However, Williams said she does not believe the board will seek to force the matter through litigation, in part because it has no funds of its own.

“I don’t see anything the board can do,” Williams said. “It’s been very discouraging.”

On-demand voting

Now that the ballot is approved, Election Board Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro asked when the on-demand mail ballot voting option will be available, saying she has received inquiries.

Cook said next week. The printers used for on-demand voting must be programmed, she said.

With this option, registered voters can request and, if approved, receive a mail ballot on the spot so it can be completed and submitted in the election bureau. On-demand ballots are only be available for a short window until Oct. 29, which is the last day to apply for mail ballots.

As in the past presidential general election, the bureau plans to set up a screening area in the lobby of the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre to reduce the wait inside the election bureau on the second floor of the building.

On-demand ballots take time because each application must be checked and approved while the voter waits. Long lines had formed outside Penn Place when the state started promoting this on-the-spot option before the November 2020 election, which in turn drew campaign supporters and demonstrators.

Registration processing

The county election bureau has approximately 4,000 voter registration applications to process, according to a weekly election tasks report the county election bureau released Monday afternoon:

One week ago, there were 4,100 pending registrations. The bureau processed 2,091 applications since then, but new arrivals kept the total count at the same level.

These figures include voter requests for party or address changes in addition to new registrations.

Cook has emphasized many applications are duplicates from voters submitting new applications even though they already are registered. Duplicates are consuming limited resources, she said. She asks voters to check their registration status at pavoterservices.pa.gov prior to submitting a new application.

Voter registration

When the county’s voter registration officially flipped from a Democratic to a Republican majority a week ago, the gap between the two was 83.

According to the latest state statistics posted Monday, the difference is now 410, with 87,724 Republicans and 87,314 Democrats in the county.

The county’s total voter registration is now 203,643.

The registration changes since last week:

• Republicans picked up 309

• Democrats lost 18

• Voters with other affiliations or no affiliations grew by 31. There are now 28,605 voters choosing no party or other parties.

Oct. 21 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 5 general election.