Preparing for Tuesday’s Luzerne County general election

A total 205,209 Luzerne County voters are eligible to cast ballots in Tuesday’s general election, according to the state’s latest statistics released Oct. 27.

The breakdown: 91,101 Republicans, 84,123 Democrats, and 29,985 voters of other or no affiliations.

Tuesday’s election is a “municipal election” primarily featuring local municipal, school, and county races, which typically equates to a lower turnout. Municipal elections are held every other year.

In the last municipal general election in November 2023, county turnout was 32.86%, when 64,498 of 196,296 registered voters cast ballots, county records show.

Two years prior, in November 2021, the turnout was 30.69%. At that time, 62,121 of 202,389 registered voters cast ballots.

Voting at the polls

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

A list of all 186 polling places is posted on the election bureau page at luzernecounty.org.

Three locations have changed since the May primary election:

• Kingston borough Ward 5 — Kingston Central Fire Dept., 600 Wyoming Ave. (previously the Kingston VFW)

• Plains Township Ward 2 — Sts. Peter & Paul Parish Bernardine Hall, 13 Hudson Road (previously the parish center across the street)

• Plains Township Ward 4 — Sts. Peter & Paul Parish Bernardine Hall (previously the township firehouse)

Voters unsure of their ward or district can obtain that information through the state’s registration database at pavoterservices.pa.gov.

After signing in on electronic poll books at polling places, voters make selections on touchscreen machines and then receive a paper ballot printout to verify their choices. This printout is not a receipt and must be fed into a tabulator to lock in the vote.

Voters with any concerns should inform a poll worker on the spot so the judge can assess the situation and, if warranted, resolve it, officials said.

Voters may call 570-825-1715 or email [email protected] to report any issues.

Provisional ballots

Paper provisional ballots are cast at polling places when workers determine additional voter verification is needed. The county reviews provisional ballots last during post-election adjudication to ensure the voters are properly registered and did not cast a second ballot by mail.

The state has redesigned provisional ballot envelopes with a layout that clearly instructs voters which fields they must fill out. The envelopes also streamline the process for election workers, identifying which fields they need to complete before and after the voter completes the provisional ballot.

County Election Director Emily Cook said emergency ballots also have been printed for all registered voters in each of the 186 precincts as a backup.

Mail ballots

Approximately 27,000 mail ballots were issued to voters at their request, and more than 18,000 were returned by the end of last week, Cook said.

Mail ballots must be physically in the election bureau by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Because postmarks do not count, voters returning ballots at this point should use a drop box instead of regular mail.

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

In Hazleton, a box in the Broad Street Business Exchange, 100 W. Broad St., will only be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday.

The Wilkes-Barre box in the Penn Place Building lobby, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., will be available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

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

Mail ballot voters can check the status of their mail ballot on the state’s tracker at pavoterservices.pa.gov.

Voters who received alerts of mail ballot deficiencies can appear at the election bureau on Monday to submit a new ballot or fill out a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day.

Mail voters who received but did not return their ballot can also bring the ballot package that was sent to them — the ballot and envelopes — to their polling place so it can be voided, allowing them to vote on the ballot marking device at their polling place.

Results

County results will be posted and updated at luzernecounty.org after the polls close.

The state’s electionreturns.pa.gov site will provide updated unofficial results in statewide races, which for this election would be two judicial seats in the Superior Court and Commonwealth Court and judicial retention questions.

The county must issue an unofficial tally of ballots, including mail-ins, by midnight on election night as a condition for its acceptance of a state election integrity grant.

State legislation authorizing this grant also requires participating counties to remain in place and continue tallying until the unofficial count is completed instead of halting the count and returning the next day, officials said.

Approximately 40 workers will be sworn in and trained on Monday so they are prepared to perform the initial unsealing and processing of mail ballots — known as pre-canvassing — starting at 7 a.m. on Election Day in Penn Place, Cook said.

Ballot information

The official election proclamation listing all races and candidates that appear on the ballot is posted on the county election page at luzernecounty.org.

There are also two referendums on Tuesday’s ballot — one countywide and the other only in Pittston.

All county voters will decide if the county’s home rule charter should be revised. If a yes vote prevails, the proposed new charter version will be activated. A majority of no votes means the existing charter that took effect in January 2012 will continue as is.

In Pittston, city voters must decide if they want to change the city charter to make the elected treasurer/tax collector position an appointed department director when the current elected term expires at the end of 2027. If a majority of voters approve the referendum, the qualifications, powers, and duties of the director position would be “adjusted to correspond with a position held by a city employee,” an accompanying explanation said.