Luzerne County provides update on mail ballot dating issue

Unless a court ruling says otherwise, Luzerne County will be counting May 20 primary election mail ballots missing handwritten dates on the outer envelope, officials said during Wednesday’s county election board meeting.

A federal court ruling by District Judge Susan Baxter, an appointee of President Donald Trump in his first term, determined the rejection of undated or wrongly dated ballots violated the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

An appeal is pending, but the decision stands at this time because a stay was not granted, county Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino said during Wednesday’s meeting.

To be safe, the county election bureau will still segregate impacted ballots in case the appeal court rules otherwise by the election, Molino said.

Voters are instructed to sign and date the outer envelope where indicated. The date refers to when the ballot was filled out, not a birth date.

Critics have questioned the need for the date because the election bureau time-stamps the ballots when they are received and does not accept ballots that arrive after the 8 p.m. Election Day deadline.

Following state guidance, the election bureau will continue canceling ballots in the state system if they are missing outer envelope voter signatures or required inner secrecy envelopes.

County Election Director Emily Cook said ballots with missing or incorrect handwritten dates will not be canceled, but the date issue will be noted in the online ballot tracker so voters have the option to remedy the situation in case the ruling is overturned.

The ballot tracker is available at pavoterservices.pa.gov.

Those receiving alerts of ballot deficiencies 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.

As in the past, the election board also agreed to supply lists of May 20 primary election voters with ballot defects — including date issues — to party leaders so they can attempt to contact those voters and inform them of their option to cast a provisional ballot at the polls before 8 p.m. This is known as curing.

A curing list will be provided both the day before the election and on Election Day.

Between 18,000 and 20,000 mail ballots have been issued to voters at their request, and approximately 7,000 have been returned to date, Cook estimated.

The county has two drop boxes in the lobby of county-owned buildings:

• Penn Place Building lobby, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre — weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Broad Street Exchange Building, 100 W. Broad St., Hazleton — weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The county will stop accepting ballots at the Hazleton box at 4 p.m. May 19. The Penn Place box will be available until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

A box also is set up inside the election bureau on the second floor of the Penn Place Building.

The box in the Penn Place Building lobby has a camera and other added security features because the county is participating in a pilot program.

County Deputy Election Director Steve Hahn told the election board 337 ballots have been deposited in the Penn Place lobby box to date. There were 51 placed in the election bureau box and under 20 in the Hazleton box, he said.

Election Board Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro obtained verification from the election bureau that it is following the board’s chain-of-custody policy to document counts on mail ballots retrieved from drop boxes. Fusaro said the policy was not followed in some instances for the Nov. 5 general election and added, “We can’t have that issue again.”

Poll workers

The county has approximately 1,343 poll workers but still needs assistance in Kingston, Luzerne, City of Pittston and Kingston Township, Cook said.

Interested residents should contact the election bureau at 570-825-1715, she said.

Poll worker training is underway in person or through an online program, with 667 signed up for the primary, she said. Cook said the bureau is complying with a board policy requiring poll workers to complete at least one training annually.