What you need to know for Luzerne County’s general election Tuesday

Whether casting ballots by mail or in person, 202,438 Luzerne County residents are registered to vote in Tuesday’s general election.

There are 95,199 Democrats, 81,282 Republicans and 25,957 with other or no affiliation. Voters are free to choose contenders from any party in the general.

Turnout fluctuates from election to election and sometimes increases with big races, such as two county judicial seats that are up for grabs this Tuesday.

In the comparable November 2017 general election four years ago, 49,654 voters cast ballots, records show. The total voter registration was 204,757 at that time, resulting in a turnout of 24.25%.

(Not surprisingly, turnout was 69.76% in the November 2020 general election because it was a presidential race, which typically draw more voters to the polls. In that election, 154,134 of the 220,963 voters registered cast ballots.)

Mail voting

In total, 24,648 voters requested mail ballots for Tuesday’s general, which equates to 12% of the total registered, county figures show.

Mail ballots must physically be in the county election bureau by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

The county’s ballot drop box inside the Penn Place building at 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Wilkes-Barre will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday and until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The three other drop boxes will be available Monday only. The locations and hours:

• Pittston Memorial Library, 47 Broad St., Pittston — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Hazleton City Hall, 40 N. Church St. — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Wright Township Volunteer Fire Department, 477 South Main Road, Mountain Top — 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As a reminder, mail voters received instructions, a ballot, an unmarked white secrecy envelope and an outer envelope that contains the voter’s name and a label with a bar code that, when scanned, identifies that voter in the state’s database.

After filling out their ballot, voters must place it in the secrecy envelope, seal it and then put that envelope inside the one with the label/barcode to be returned to the county.

Ballots won’t be counted if voters fail to enclose them in both envelopes or forget to sign and date the outer envelope.

Mail voters who did not return their ballots also can bring the ballot package that had been sent to them — the ballot and both envelopes — to their polling place so they can be voided, allowing th0se voters to cast their ballot on the electronic ballot marking devices.

If voters requested but never received a mail ballot, they can cast a paper provisional ballot at the polls.

Provisional ballots are marked by hand and reviewed last so the county can verify a mail ballot was not also received from that voter. The details are important for provisional ballots. They must be placed in a secrecy envelope, which is then inserted in an outer envelope. Three signatures — two from the voter and one from the judge of elections — are required on the outer envelope for the vote to count.

In-person voting

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voters in line at 8 p.m. must be permitted to vote.

Voters can view a list of all polling places under the “find your polling place” link of the election department page at luzernecounty.org.

There will be 11 polling place location changes in seven municipalities, and the county sent new voter identification cards to the thousands of impacted voters.

The new locations, along with the addresses as stated by the election bureau:

• Dallas Ward 2: Back Mountain Memorial Library, 96 Huntsville Road

• Exeter Wards 1, 2 and 3: St. Barbara’s Parish, 28 Memorial St.

• Hanover Township Ward 2: Newtown Fire Company No. 2, 2 Raymond Drive

• Hazleton Wards 1 and 2: Lackawanna College, 2 East Broad St.

• Swoyersville Ward 1: Music Box Dinner Playhouse, 196 Hughes St.

• Wilkes-Barre Ward 10: Heights Murray Elementary School, 1 South Sherman St.

• Wright Township Districts 1 and 2: Wright Township Volunteer Fire Department, 477 South Main Road

At the polls, voters make selections on touchscreen machines and then receive a paper ballot printout to verify their choices. After reviewing this printout, voters must feed the paper into a tabulator. County officials emphasize voters should not leave the polling place with this paper because it must be entered into the tabulator to lock in their vote.

Those with questions or concerns about the ballot marking devices, printouts or tabulators — or anything else they encounter in the polling place — should alert the judge of elections while they are inside the polling place before they cast their ballots so the judge can assess the situation and, if warranted, resolve it, officials say.

First-time voters should bring proper identification materials. A list of ID options is posted under the voter registration link at votespa.com.

Races

Local races vary within each school district and municipality.

Several countywide races will be decided in the upcoming general:

• Two Court of Common Pleas judges: The contenders are Stefanie Salavantis, Alexandra Kokura Kravitz and Tarah Toohil.

• County controller: Incumbent Democrat Michelle Bednar is running against Republican Walter Griffith.

• Five county council members: There are 10 candidates (listed in the order they appear on the ballot): Democrats Matthew Vough, Sheila Saidman, Jane Walsh Waitkus, Maryann V. Velez and Jimmy Sabatino and Republicans John Lombardo, Gregory S. Wolovich Jr., Chris R. Perry, Brian Thornton and Kevin Lescavage.

• District Attorney: Current DA Sam Sanguedolce, a Republican, is running unopposed.

• Incumbent judges: Six county Court of Common Pleas judges are seeking retention, which means voters must answer a yes/no question on whether they should remain in their post for another 10-year term. These judges: Lesa S. Gelb, Richard M. Hughes III, Fred A. Pierantoni, Jennifer L. Rogers, Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. and Michael T. Vough.

Tally

County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo said the goal is to process all mail ballots by election night so those results can be included in the evening’s unofficial tally, although she stressed there is no guarantee.

A team of approximately 35 county workers will be sworn in to start unsealing mail envelopes and scanning the ballots, known as pre-canvassing, at 7 a.m. inside a third-floor courtroom at Penn Place.

By law, counties cannot start to record and publish the mail ballot results until the polls close at 8 p.m., officials said.

The pre-canvassing is open to party observers, but the public is not granted entry until 8 p.m.

County Information Technology Department Director Mauro DiMauro walked observers through the detailed mail ballot processing setup on Friday.

As usual, 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 state races.

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

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TWO-DAY SERIES

This story is the first of two parts previewing key issues voters need to know heading into Tuesday’s election.

• TODAY: Stats, how to vote, key races

• MONDAY: Processing mail ballots, curing ballots and more