Luzerne County Election Director Shelby Watchilla demonstrates the new voting machines earlier this year. Due to issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, the machines will be available for disabled voters in the June 2 primary, while others will vote with paper ballots.
File photo
As many as 70% of Luzerne County primary election voters could be casting their ballots by mail, based on the latest statistics and past turnout.
In total, the county election bureau processed 53,443 mail-in ballot requests by Tuesday’s application deadline, county Election Director Shelby Watchilla reported at Wednesday’s county election board meeting.
Updated state registration figures posted this week indicate 185,197 county voters are eligible to cast ballots on June 2 — 104,959 Democrats and 80,238 Republicans.
If turnout is the same as it was in the last presidential primary four years ago — 41% — approximately 75,930 votes would be cast next week. That would equate to a 70% mail-in response if all voters requesting that option return their ballots by the 8 p.m. deadline on Election Day.
Approved by state legislators last year, the new option to vote by mail with no excuse or justification required has been heavily promoted as a way to avoid safety concerns of in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
By Wednesday’s election board meeting, all but about 88 ballots had been mailed to those requesting them, with the remainder in the works, Watchilla said.
Nearly 15,000 voters already have returned their completed ballots, Watchilla told the election board. To ensure the remaining requested ballots reach the county election office in time, county officials are now urging voters to use one of three ballot drop-off options, detailed at the end of this report, if they have not yet received or mailed their ballots.
In-person voting
Voters casting their ballots at polling places will be asked to wear masks inside buildings in compliance with coronavirus public safety guidelines, but an election board member asked what happens if someone refuses.
County Manager C. David Pedri said election workers will “nicely” ask any mask objectors to wear one to protect others.
“Everyone should feel safe,” Pedri said.
However, Pedri said the county can’t legally force voters to wear masks and won’t disenfranchise anyone by denying the right to vote due to lack of a face covering. If a voter won’t comply with the mask request, judges of election will be instructed to place the voter as far away from others as possible to fill out a ballot, he said.
Election board solicitor Michael Butera concurred with Pedri’s response, saying workers will politely encourage mask compliance.
The county reduced its polling locations from 144 to 58 for the primary, keeping and adding larger spaces to allow for social distancing and more ventilation. State legislators allowed counties to temporarily consolidate voting sites due to pandemic-related challenges securing staffing and buildings.
Watchilla told the board she has been recruiting poll workers and is in “a much better position” to staff the reduced number of locations compared to several weeks ago.
Voters will receive a take-home stylus to sign in on electronic poll books at their assigned polling place.
Non-disabled voters must use a pen, also take-home, to fill out selections on a paper ballot that they then feed into a scanner to be tabulated and stored.
Voters with vision impairments or other disabilities preventing them from voting on paper unassisted will have access to a touchscreen electronic ballot marking device set up at each polling location, which also generate printouts that have to be inserted into a scanner/tabulator.
The ballot marking devices will be sanitized between uses, Pedri said.
County Councilman Walter Griffith asked the board if voters will be permitted to use the machines if they are not disabled. He has said he is concerned some elderly voters may have shaky hands or poor vision that make it harder for them to fill out paper ballots, even though they may not consider themselves disabled.
Pedri said the county cannot ask voters if they are disabled, so anyone expressly asking to use a ballot marking device will be granted that request and assumed to have a disability.
Drop-off locations
The county has three drop-off options for mail-in ballots because they must be in the county election bureau by 8 p.m. on June 2. Postmarks do not count.
Mail-in voters can take their ballots to the counter at the Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton post offices through June 1, where they will be segregated and picked up several times daily by a county courier or deputy sheriff.
Located at 300 S. Main St., the Wilkes-Barre Post Office is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Monday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 30. The Hazleton Post Office at 231 N. Wyoming St. is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Monday and 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on May 30.
The third drop-off option is the county-owned Penn Place building at 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Wilkes-Barre, with free designated parking spots available on Pennsylvania Avenue. Ballots may be deposited at a lockbox by the security desk in the lobby from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Monday and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. This is the only drop-off location option for ballots on June 2.
Watchilla said the U.S. Postal Service is aware of the influx in mail-in ballots statewide and attempting to expedite delivery of those sent by mail.
Election Board Chairman Jose Adames said voters with concerns about their ballot should contact the election office at 570-825-1715 or elections@luzernecounty.org.
A link to all location changes and other information has been posted under a large 2020 presidential election banner at www.luzernecounty.org.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
