Court actions filed over Luzerne County Democratic Committee seats

Luzerne County Councilwoman and Attorney Joanna Bryn Smith filed court actions on behalf of several county Democrats attempting to stop Wednesday night’s county Democratic Party reorganization meeting to select a new party chair.

Two actions were filed: a motion against the county Democratic Party seeking injunctive relief and a petition appealing the May 19 primary election certification against the county Election Board, county Election Bureau, and county Election Director Emily Cook.

A court hearing on the injunction relief request was held Tuesday afternoon before a panel of county Court of Common Pleas judges, and the judges denied the request, officials said.

No hearing has been scheduled on the appeal of the election certification.

The actions center on the certification of local party committee members — one male and one female — in each of the county’s 186 voting precincts.

A primary function of these 372 committee members is to select a county Democratic Party chairperson in June.

Approximately 40 men and 38 women filed paperwork to appear on the primary ballot for committee seats, meaning the majority had to be filled through write-in votes.

Citing the state election code, the county has taken a position that it can only certify write-in winners who received the minimum number of seats required to get on the ballot, or at least 10 votes in this case.

As a result, county Democratic Chairwoman Mary Ann Petyak said only 88 or 89 committee seat winners were certified and eligible to vote for the new chair at Wednesday’s reorganization.

Arguing that committee seats are party offices, not elective offices, the county furnished all write-in results to the party so it could decide how it wants to handle the filling of vacant seats based on its own party bylaws.

Petyak said Monday that no system was in place to fill the vacant seats, which meant the approximately 283 empty committee seats would have to be filled by her successor or party district chairs based on the opinion of party legal counsel.

Wednesday’s reorganization is set for 7 p.m. at Wilkes University’s Henry Student Center.

Bryn Smith’s filings were made on behalf of the following candidates who received write-in votes but were not certified as winners, the documents said: Joseph Oprendick, Swoyersville; Darlene Smith, Kingston Township; Mary P. Delaney, Wyoming; Thomas W. Bindus, Wyoming; Andrea Glod, Wilkes-Barre; Jessica Rodriquez, Hazleton; Michelle Rothenbecker, Bear Creek Township; James D. Hayward Jr., Wilkes-Barre; Nate Eachus, Butler Township; James Conroy, Wilkes-Barre; Michele Trimingham, Wilkes-Barre; Ruth Wnuk, Kingston; Kurt Sauer, Wilkes-Barre; and Wendy Packard Hamacker, Exeter.

The filing against the party argued the election code dictates that committee candidates receiving a plurality of the votes must be certified the winner.

“As few as a single vote can be a plurality if other candidates do not receive votes, regardless of whether they are on the ballot or receive write-in votes,” the filing said.

It notes the primary is the final election for committee seats, as opposed to typical primary election nominations of candidates that advance to the general election.

The filing also asserts a May 26 email communication from Cook to Petyak demonstrated an initial county intent to certify all winners who received a plurality of the vote.

The filing argued the county should be determining if a top vote-getter is qualified under county party bylaws and certify winners, saying the approach that was carried out caused “irreparable harm” to qualified candidates “whose contests are tied and unresolved.”

Bryn Smith issued a statement Tuesday saying the preliminary injunction was denied until after the courts have a chance to hear the other case seeking to compel the Board of Elections to certify election winners with a plurality of the vote. She said the decision was a “huge blow to democracy.”

County Democratic Party bylaws say the party is “committed to providing the broadest possible base of participation” in party affairs, she said, adding the plaintiffs she represents were “fighting to ensure committee members’ voices aren’t silenced and that all elected Democrats do in fact have the opportunity to participate in party affairs.”

Petyak said in the statement: “It is unacceptable for members of the Democratic Party to try to exclude properly elected Democrats from votes that determine the future of the party. We should be better than that.”

If the plaintiffs are successful in the filing about election certification, the county party likely would have to hold a second reorganization meeting, the statement said.